Collapse
by DiscordianSamba
Summary: When Heiji suddenly collapses during a visit to Beika to see his friend, Conan is forced to confront some startling news: that Heiji's body is literally destroying itself, and there's nothing that can be done. In desperation, he turns to Ai, hoping that she can find some answers and a way to save his life- but what she turns up is not what anyone could have ever expected.
1. Initial Onset

AN: So, here I am, with a brand new story (again)! Although to be frank this idea has always been churning in the back of my head in some form or fashion for quite some time now, but it's only now that I've really figured out a manner in which I'd like to tell it. If I could add a third genre to this story, the tag would probably be sci-fi because it does dabble with some sci-fi like themes, which will become clear once we get to that part of the story. Anyways, it's one that I'm looking forward to telling, so I hope everyone looks forward to reading it!

As always, don't forget to review, especially since this is the start of a new story! Your thoughts are what really keeps me pumped and motivated to keep on updating, so don't hesitate to tell me what you think, or to share your predictions! Then, until later!

* * *

 **Collapse**

 **Chapter One**

 **Initial Onset**

* * *

In hindsight, perhaps he should have been more concerned about the persistent cough that seemed to plague his friend much sooner.

"Geez, what's that look on yer face fer? It's almost like yer not even happy ta see me, Kudo!"

As Conan let out a long, exasperated sigh, he looked up towards the person who had somehow or another managed to worm his way into his life, managing to _somehow_ become his best friend before he'd even known it. It was strange to think that there was a time that he hadn't known the one known as the high school detective of the west, Hattori Heiji, and even stranger still to think that time had only been around a year ago now. That broad grin of his that had become so familiar to Conan was plastered on his face, an eager look in his eyes that told him that he had something to tell him.

"I _am_ happy to see you, Hattori, I just wish you'd give me some advance notice, rather than just show up out of the blue." Conan said finally. "So? What brings you all the way out to Tokyo today? From the look in your eyes, there's obviously something."

"That's right!" Heiji's grin only managed to grow all the brighter, as he eagerly nodded his head. "There's a case, a case! A _really_ interestin' case!"

"And? You want me to solve it with you?" Conan asked. Well, it wasn't exactly like he would say _no_. Kogoro hadn't really been getting much work lately, and Conan was growing somewhat bored. A case might very well be just what the doctor has ordered. There was only so much of first grade schoolwork he could stand. Without the chance to stretch his brain a little with some casework, he almost felt like he'd revert into a child in mind, as well as body.

That was most _definitely_ an exaggeration, but that was what it felt like sometimes.

"You've got it right!" Kneeling down in front of him, Heiji reached out a hand, ruffling Conan's hair much to his shrunken friend's great annoyance, seemingly oblivious to the fact. "How about it, Kudo? Ya wouldn't even have ta deal with that uncle from the detective agency hangin' around this time. Just you an' me."

"Is this why you chose to confront me in front of the Professor's place, then? Exactly how long were you planning on waiting out here for me to come along anyways?" Conan couldn't help but ask. He'd been on his way to the Professor's when he'd been all but ambushed by Heiji.

"Well, I figured ya'd come around eventually." Heiji told him. There was something in his tone that told Conan that he hadn't actually thought it through that far.

That was the first time, Conan recalled later, that he'd heard Heiji cough. It was more of a fit of them really, rather than a single, simple cough, one that left him gasping slightly for breath once it was over. Naturally, at the time, he'd been concerned, but...

"Oi, are you alright, Hattori?" Conan asked, a deep frown on his face. "That didn't sound very good. Are you coming down with something?"

"Just a summer cold, probably." Heiji said after a moment, flashing him a quick grin- though Conan couldn't help but notice that it didn't seem quite as strong as his previous one had. "S'not anythin' ta worry about."

"Do you want some cold medicine?" Conan asked. "The professor always has some around. And don't worry, I'll make certain to get you the _real_ cold medicine." He told him, briefly recalling that one incident where he'd ended up with the Apotoxin antidote instead of cold medicine. In the end it had more or less worked out for him, given the kind of culprit they had been dealing with, but well, it was definitely not a good idea to give someone the antidote to something they weren't even suffering from.

"Nah, it's okay. I already took some." Heiji promised him, pausing briefly to cough into his hand again- this one, blessedly, only lasted for a second. "It's really just a cough, mostly."

"Honestly." Conan heaved a sigh. "Only you would come all the way out here when you're sick just because of a case."

"Shut up, idiot. Don't try an' pretend ya wouldn't do the same thing. 'Sides, I'm not really sick." Heiji said, casting him a skeptical look. Knowing that he'd more or less caught him out, Conan could only give him a slightly sheepish one in return. "Anyways, ya wanna go check out this case with me? Of course, it's here in Tokyo, otherwise I would have called ya out ta Osaka myself."

"Alright, count me in. You are going to give me the details before we get there, right?" Conan asked.

"Well of course I am!" Heiji promised him, standing back up straight, coughing into his hand once more as he did so. "An old friend of a friend of Otaki-han's was murdered a week ago, an' apparently the police are still puzzled about the case. They're pretty sure they know who the murderer is, but the problem is that is they can't prove it, an' they can't solve the trick behind the locked room murder. That's where we come in, naturally."

"I see." Placing a hand on his chin, Conan briefly found himself lost in thought- not even noticing for a second that Heiji had started walking ahead of him. With a slight start, Conan hurried to catch up with him, casting a glower at those long legs of his. If he had his own body back, then it wouldn't be that much of a problem- Heiji was only a _little_ bit taller than him when he was in his real body. But the height difference between Edogawa Conan and Hattori Heiji was needless to say, vast.

Seeming to notice that the shrunken detective was having trouble keeping up with his pace, Heiji slowed it down a little, giving him a small smile as Conan easily caught up to it. Said smile was broken by another pair of coughs, and he couldn't help but grumble a little. It probably _was_ just a summer cold, but it was also one he'd been fighting off for the past two weeks. That in itself was nothing unusual for him- but it didn't really make him feel badly enough to cause him to want to rest in bed. His mother had been _very_ insistent that he stay in bed for the first week after he'd developed it, but by week two, he was sick and tired of that, and had decided to take the first chance he could get to leave the house.

Which was, incidentally, this case. He'd basically blasted out of the house before his mother could even stop him. Doubtlessly she had already made a very annoyed phone call to his father, but it didn't matter. It wasn't like either of them would come out all this way to get him just because of a slight cough.

And a mild fever.

And the occasional fits of exhaustion.

But other than that, it was pretty much nothing to worry about! Nothing that he couldn't handle, at any rate. Granted, it would probably become trouble if it turned into a full blown sickness- he'd never handled being sick very well, as somewhat embarrassing as that was to admit. It had been that way ever since he was a child- while he was generally pretty resistant at catching things in the first place, whenever he _did_ catch something, it always hit him hard. It was, quite frankly, rare for him to recover quickly from a sickness, and he was almost entirely down for the count the entire time while he was doing so- which could often last up to two weeks, at the very least. There had been a time during middle school when he had caught the flu and was in and out of for the duration of a month- that had been pretty unpleasant. As far as he could remember, he'd basically gone to sleep, and woke up an entire month later, his memories of the time so fuzzy that he could barely recall anything.

Besides, it just _wasn't_ in his nature to lie around all day and do nothing, especially when he was otherwise pretty healthy. If he actually got sick, he'd mind himself then, but until then, there was a case in front of him, and he was going to solve it with his best friend, and there wasn't any force on earth that could get in the way of that- not even the gray clouds that lingered overhead, bearing with them a threat of a summer storm.

In hindsight, he probably should have stayed in bed.

Not that it would have actually done him any good. What was to come, after all, was basically inevitable.

* * *

"It's really comin' down now." Heiji observed, peering out the window behind him. The case had more or less been wrapped up- only loose ends needed to be tied up now, he thought to himself, catching sight of Detective Takagi escorting the murderer to a police car. And they'd been so cocky when they had first been called to the scene of the crime, so _certain_ that they'd gotten away with it, so assured of the fact that even if the police suspected him, they had no way of proving it. Wiping that smug look off of his face was the sort of thing that Heiji lived for, and boy did it feel good.

"Did you bring an umbrella by any chance?" Conan asked, twitching open the curtains, casting a slight frown up at the sky.

"Do I _look_ like I have an umbrella on me?" Heiji asked, spreading out his hands. He had to quickly recall one however, as another coughing fit flared up. This time, Conan couldn't help but notice, it seemed to last longer, and had been more powerful than his previous fits- of which he'd had any number of while going over the crime scene. He'd actually been interrupted in the middle of giving his deduction by one.

It was starting to worry him, frankly.

"Are you quite alright, Hattori-kun?" Megure himself couldn't help but be more than a little concerned. The Osakan high school detective that he knew was usually the picture of perfect health, but today's Heiji actually managed to look somewhat pale- which was a feat, all things told. "You've been coughing pretty badly ever since you arrived here."

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Waving off the older man's concern, Heiji flashed him a quick grin- one that looked slightly haggard. He was starting to feel a little worse for wear- perhaps he had actually pushed himself too hard. Maybe he should consider taking a nap before trying to hop on the train to head back to Osaka. "It's just a summer cold."

"It doesn't quite sound like a summer cold to me." Megure noted with a frown, glancing down at Conan, who shook his head, telling him that he didn't know himself. "How's your temperature? Should I call for a doctor?"

"No, no, that's not necessary." Heiji was quick to reassure him, even as he coughed into his hand again. His temperature had gotten a bit worse, he thought to himself, but he wasn't going to say that out loud. He actually didn't really like people worrying over him all that much, especially if he didn't know them as well. "I'm really fine, Inspector. I'll just find somewhere ta lie down fer awhile before I head home."

"Do you want to come over to the Professor's house, Heiji-niichan?" Conan piped up. "I'm sure he'd let you borrow the couch for awhile, if you need it."

The professor's place was closer to here than the detective agency anyways. He did briefly consider inviting Heiji over to his own house- but Subaru was still there, and he wanted to avoid the two of them meeting if he could help it. If Heiji found out that there were things about his investigation into the Black Organization that he was keeping from him, it probably wouldn't end that well. The last thing he wanted was to have a fight with him over something like that.

It was out of concern, mostly. Heiji had a bad knack for finding trouble all on his own, the less he was involved in dangerous situations like the ones dealing with them brought him, the better. Not only would Kazuha likely never forgive him if he allowed something to happen to Heiji, he'd never forgive _himself_ either.

He would very much like for Heiji to still be around when he was finally able to go back to his original body, after all. The detective of the east and the detective of the west working together, side by side to solve cases was already something that had happened countless times- but that was something only the two of them knew. As much as he never admitted it out loud, he really _did_ want to work cases with Heiji in his real body, not in this diminutive form of his.

"Ah, that might be a good idea, Ku- no, Conan-kun." Heiji told him, flashing him a small smile. "I'll probably feel a lot better after a quick nap. M'probably just tired."

"Well, if you say so, Hattori-kun." From the way he was still frowning, Megure didn't seem entirely convinced- but he was willing to let it go if the boy himself insisted. "If you're looking for umbrellas, I think there's one you can borrow downstairs, at the front desk of the hotel."

"Oh, thanks!" Heiji gave him a quick nod, before glancing down towards the small boy next to him. Blinking for a moment, he swore that for a brief second, he actually saw _two_ of him. Maybe he really did need that nap, he thought to himself, steadying his vision again, now only seeing one pint-sized detective before him. "Let's go, Conan-kun!"

"Sure, Heiji-niichan!" With a chipper nod of his head that didn't betray the worry he was feeling on the inside, Conan cast an assessing look towards the Osakan detective. Megure was right, he was looking a little more worse for wear than he had been when they'd arrived here. Had he pushed himself a little too much?

If that was the case, then a good rest was just the ticket. If worst came to worst, he could convince Heiji to spend the night, and to go back to Osaka tomorrow morning after he was more well rested, and ready to face the train ride back home.

It was Conan who ended up asking for the umbrella at the front desk, as Heiji quickly found himself dealing with another coughing fit. Holding up a hand and silently promising the increasingly worried Conan that he was just fine, he could only wait until it passed, mentally timing it.

Thirty-one seconds, exactly.

Taking in a breath, Heiji took the umbrella from Conan, the pair of them walking out into the summer storm. Popping open the umbrella, Heiji flashed him a grin, motioning for him to stick tight next to him so that he wouldn't get wet.

It was easier to keep pace with him this time, Conan couldn't help but note. Maybe he should consider getting Ai to check him over when they got the Professor's place. Pulling out his cellphone to let the aforementioned portly professor know that they were coming, and to get some cold medicine ready for Heiji, and perhaps some soup, if he had any, Conan spared another glance up towards his rival, faintly hearing the sound of his coughing even through the pouring rain.

"You're sick, Hattori." Conan said pointedly, making sure that his voice was loud enough so that it could be heard over the rain.

"M'not." Heiji grumbled, stubbornly resistant to the idea. Sick meant lying around in bed for at the very least, up to two weeks, and he'd already spent a week in bed before this. Frankly, he was already tired of it. Sick _also_ meant barely having any awareness of his surroundings and becoming virtually totally dependent on whoever was taking care of him, and that side of him was the last thing that he wanted to show his _rival_ , of all people. "M'fine, Kudo. It's just a summer cold."

"Hattori." Conan's voice was sharp, his eyes narrowing. "This isn't something to be stubborn about. You need to take care of your body. Even I rest when I'm sick."

Glancing down towards Conan, the stubborn Osakan detective finally let out a slight sigh- one that caught in his throat as another cough halfway through. Once it passed, he let his shoulders slump somewhat, realizing that his friend probably had a point. He was probably coming down with something after all.

"Fine, fine." Heiji grumbled, scratching the back of his head with his free hand. "Yer right, Kudo. I do feel like I'm comin' down with somethin'. I'll be good an' rest properly when we get to that professor's place, alright?"

"That's good." Giving Heiji a swift nod, Conan felt a slight vibration from his pocket, pulling out his phone to check on it. It was a message from the professor, telling him that he'd gotten out the medicine- and had made certain it was the real stuff this time- and that he had some chicken soup heating up as they spoke. Satisfied with this, Conan tucked it back away.

By the time they had arrived at the Professor's, Heiji's coughing had gotten pretty bad. Hurriedly escorting his still coughing friend inside, Conan lead him towards the couch, carefully sitting him down on it. A worried look crossed Agasa's face the moment Heiji entered his door- he apparently hadn't been expecting it to be quite this bad, and he hurried to go get the medicine, preparing a cup of water to take it with.

"Here you are, Hattori-kun." Agasa told him, offering him the glass of water. With a slight nod of his head, Heiji took it from him, accepting the pair of pills- store bought cold medicine this time, rather than the Professor's own invention- and swallowed them, washing them down with the water.

Letting out a long sigh once they were down, Heiji did seem to feel a little better- or at least, he thought so. "Thanks. Sorry fer the trouble."

"It's no trouble at all." Agasa told him simply. "Shinichi, why don't you go ahead and get the chicken soup off the stove? It should be about ready by now."

"Sure thing, Professor." Conan said, heading over towards the kitchen. "By the way, where's Haibara?"

"I believe she's over at Ayumi-kun's place today." Agasa told him. "Apparently she's helping her housesit for a few hours while her parents are out. She should be back in a few hours. Why do you ask?"

"I wanted to see if she could look over Hattori." Conan told him frankly, pulling out the stepstool so that he could get up to the stove in the first place. Switching off the heat, he pulled the soup pot off of the stove, and went to fetch a bowl to put it in.

"I don't need the little Neechan ta look over me, Kudo." Heiji told him with a slight frown. "Like I said, it's probably just a summer cold."

"It seems worse than that, Hattori." Conan noted, casting a doubtful look in his direction, before he busied himself pouring some soup into a bowl. "You've been getting worse and worse all afternoon. It wouldn't hurt to have someone look over you."

"Geez, ya sound just like my old lady." Heiji grumbled. Well, he could understand why he was worried- he'd never actually seen him sick before, so he had no idea how bad it could get. "It's really probably nothin' serious, Kudo. I've never handled gettin' sick all that well, ever since I was a kid. It probably just seems more serious than it actually is. Put some faith in me, Kudo, I know my own body well enough."

His argument was less effective, he couldn't help but note, when he ended up punctuating it with another coughing fit.

"Well if it gets any worse, we're taking you to see a doctor- and Haibara's checking you over either way. No arguments, Hattori." Conan noted, a sharp tone to his voice as he carefully brought the soup over, setting the bowl down on the table in front of him. "It's a little hot, so be careful."

"Honestly," Planting himself in the chair across from Heiji, Conan watched as he took the bowl of soup in his hands. "Case or no case, you should have stayed home if you weren't feeling completely well. It's no good to push yourself like that."

"Like I said, it had mostly just been a persistent cough up until now." Heiji noted, a tight frown on the Osakan's lips. "'Sides, my old lady already had me restin' in bed fer about a week, an' it wasn't like it was makin' me any better. Since I wasn't gettin' any worse either though, I thought it would be fine. S'not my fault that it waited until I got all the way out here to flare up like this."

Doing what could best be described as shoving a spoonful of soup into his mouth, a strange look quickly crossed Heiji's face, which only grew as he swallowed down a second one. "Are ya sure this soup is still good? It kind of doesn't have any taste."

"I just bought it the other day, so it should be fine." Agasa noted with a frown. "Your taste buds might be slightly off since you have a cold."

"Really?" Heiji frowned a little, shrugging his shoulders. Well, that sounded reasonable enough, even if he'd never lost his sense of taste during any of the previous colds he'd caught- and even if this seemed more than just _slightly_ off. "Well, if ya say so, that's probably right, but..."

"Just concentrate on eating and getting some rest for right now, Hattori." Conan told him. "You're welcome here for as long as you need, until you feel better."

"Mm." Making a small face, Heiji couldn't help but think that it was rather difficult to do just that when he couldn't actually _taste_ the soup worth a damn- it just felt like he was swallowing hot, flavorless water. Still, Conan was probably right, as much as he hated to admit it- he should probably eat up and get some rest.

What he had told Conan was the truth, after all- nobody knew his own body better than him. And now that he had stopped being so stubborn about it and actually listened to it for a second, he couldn't shake the distinct feeling that something seemed not quite as it should be.

Well, hopefully whatever it was, a good nap would clear it right up.

* * *

"I _was_ wondering why Hattori-kun was asleep on our couch." Ai observed simply, casting an eye towards the sleeping figure of the high school detective in question, who had apparently conked out there like a light three hours ago, and had been sleeping soundly ever since then. When she'd arrived home to find the living room darkened, and Conan and the Professor speaking in hushed tones, for a moment, she had been worried that something was terribly wrong.

Thankfully, that didn't appear to be the case.

"He says it's just a summer cold, but I don't know, Haibara." Conan said with a frown, watching as Heiji turned in his sleep. He'd tossed a blanket on him a little while ago since it looked like he was shivering, but now he'd started to look like he was sweltering instead. "I'm a little worried about him."

"I'm sure he'll be just fine, Kudo-kun." Although she was quick to reassure him of this, there was something about the way that Heiji was drawing breath that she didn't quite like. Something about the rhythm was off. "He's always seemed the hardy type to me."

"No, it's actually the opposite." Conan glanced over at her. "He told me himself that he apparently doesn't handle being sick very well. Well, granted, he didn't exactly _elaborate_ on what that means, but I think I can sort of guess."

"Really?" Blinking slightly, Ai allowed a frown to grace her features. "Well, in that case, I suppose it wouldn't hurt for me to give him a quick exam. It would really be better to take him to a real doctor though."

"Yeah, if it comes to that, I'll have the Professor drive him to a hospital." Giving her a curt nod, Conan carefully switched on one of the lights nearest to the couch. The man in question had stepped out for a moment to buy some odds and ends, just in case Heiji needed to spend the night. As the light filtered in behind his eyelids, Heiji stirred a little, but didn't quite wake up. "Hattori, wake up for a bit. Haibara's here."

Reaching out to shake his shoulder, Conan couldn't help but notice that his body seemed rather hot- a quick check of his features told him that he seemed a little flushed besides that. Was he possibly coming down with a fever?

"Hattori, wake up, I said!" Conan told him again- and this time Heiji did stir at his words, blue eyes flickering open. Groaning a little, he pushed himself up into a sitting position, taking a second to place exactly where he was.

"Oh, Kudo." Heiji spoke, blinking slowly, letting out a slight yawn. Glancing over at the nearest clock, he noted that he'd been out of it for three hours- and yet for some reason, he still felt completely wiped. "Mornin'. I see that little Neechan is back."

"Yeah. How are you feeling, Hattori?" Conan asked, opening up his mouth to protest as Heiji got to his feet, stumbling a little as he did so. If anything, his friend actually looked _worse_ than he had before he fell asleep- there was something to the cloudy, glassy look in his eyes that he really didn't care for. While he had said that he didn't handle being sick well, Conan couldn't sure if that was part of it or not- he really probably should have asked Heiji to elaborate, in retrospect. "You really don't look too good."

"Mm." Blinking slowly, Heiji cast a glance down towards Conan, squinting at him as the shrunken detective seemed to dance in his vision. After a moment he managed to focus again, once again only seeing one of him. "I've been better."

"Haibara says that she'll give you a quick exam." Conan said, glancing down towards the basement stairs, which she'd just headed down a second ago. "Do you think you can make it downstairs?"

It was almost eerie, seeing him like this- it was as if all the fire within him had been doused, not even the slightest flicker of it left. Was this lack of energy normal for him when he was ill? Was it abnormal? Maybe going to the hospital really would be the best idea.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." Heiji reassured him, reaching down to lightly pat him on the head. There was no real pressure behind it, his hand somewhat limply lying on Conan's head, lingering for a moment too long, before he finally moved it away again. His breath seemed to come out in short, shallow rasps, though at the very least, it didn't appear as if he were coughing anymore.

Narrowing his eyes as Heiji literally seemed to drag his feet as he walked, stumbling a little at the top of the stairs, Conan half wanted to tell him to stay put where he was- that Ai could come up here to him, rather than he down there to her. Quickly hurrying behind Heiji, he noted with a slight bit of relief that his steps seemed to grow steadier- perhaps he had still been half-asleep. He made it down the stairs without any problems, where they both found Ai waiting for them, having donned her white lab coat as a matter of formality.

"Take a seat, Hattori-kun." Ai instructed him, motioning towards a chair that she had pulled out. All but collapsing in it in a way that made Ai's eyes narrow, she exchanged a quick glance with Conan, before picking up a thermometer. "Let's start by taking your temperature."

"Mm." Taking the thermometer from her without much protest, Heiji stuck it in his mouth. His head felt kind of fuzzy, and it was harder for him to concentrate than it usually was. Granted, his attention span had never been all that great whenever he wasn't dealing with a case to begin with, but he seemed to be having trouble just _keeping_ thoughts in his head at the current moment.

So much so that he barely noticed when the thermometer beeped at him, telling him that it had finished taking his temperature. It was only Conan's insistent voice that snapped him out of his daze, and Heiji slowly reached up, pulling the thermometer out of his mouth. For a moment, he squinted at the numbers, his vision blurring to the point where he couldn't even read them, before he found it taken out of his hands by someone- he couldn't really tell who it was, actually.

Something was wrong.

He had some concept, some idea, that someone had just exclaimed something in shock, but he couldn't tell which of the shrunken teenagers it was at the moment, nor what it was that they were saying. The static in his head only seemed to be increasing by the second, and he felt his eyelids flicker, growing heavier and heavier by the moment.

When he collapsed, he barely even registered it.

"Hattori! Oi, _Hattori!_ " Conan called out, a bolt of cold fear surging through him that for once had _nothing_ to do with the Black Organization. "Wake up, Hattori!"

"Kudo-kun, we need to call an ambulance right away." Ai advised him, reaching out to place a hand on his shoulder. "Hattori-kun is running a dangerously high fever right now. He needs _immediate_ medical attention. I'll do what I can for him now, but he needs to see a real doctor as soon as possible."

"R-right." Almost numbly nodding his head, Conan found himself digging out his phone, dialing up the number of emergency services. He'd instructed other people to call for an ambulance countless times in the past- but this was the first time he had actually called one _himself_.

And it was for his best friend, no less, who currently lay on the floor of the professor's basement, collapsed into a heap, his breath coming out in hot, labored gasps. In the back of his mind, he dimly noticed that Ai seemed to be performing some sort of first aid, as he began to tell the woman who had answered the phone what was happening. He barely even cared that she started treating him like the child that he sounded like almost as soon as he started talking to her- at the very least, she was _listening_ to him, and promising to send aid his way straight away.

Usually when it came to emergency situations, Conan was the one who found himself in control of them- sharp and level-headed no matter what the circumstances. He'd managed to keep himself together even after he'd been shot, but now, he couldn't help but find everything happening in some sort of blur. This was a situation in which he was utterly powerless- he was a _detective_ , not a doctor, he knew _nothing_ about sick people. He'd started when Ai shouted at him to go wait for the ambulance by the front door, and had found himself moving on instinct in response, dashing up the stairs.

It wasn't until he watched the emergency technicians race into the professor's home, that he snapped back to some form of reality, taking in a sharp breath. Finding that there was a hand on his shoulder, and someone by his side asking him a question, he noticed that it wasn't one of the people who were riding on the ambulance, or even the Professor, but rather, it had been Okiya Subaru- and from the looks of it, he'd been trying to get a response from him for some time.

"Haibara's fine." Conan found himself croaking out after a second, dimly realizing that the commotion had doubtlessly drawn the disguised FBI agent out. He'd been tasked with watching this place, after all, it was to be expected. "Haibara's fine, Subaru-san. She's fine."

Narrowing his eyes at the young boy's incredibly uncharacteristic behavior, Subaru knew full well that even if the girl he had been charged with watching was alive and well, something else was very much wrong. But from the way the bespectacled boy in front of him was behaving, his gut feeling told him that it had _nothing_ to do with _them_.

He'd never actually seen the boy known as Edogawa Conan acting like a vulnerable child before- but that was very much the expression he wore on his face now, as if the life had been sucked out of him. He couldn't help but find himself more than a little concerned, even if it wasn't something that had anything to do with his line of work this time.

"Then, what's wrong?" Subaru asked. "Did the Professor collapse?"

Shaking his head, Conan felt his breath catch in his throat for a moment, before he swallowed, finally steeling himself once again. He couldn't just keep being in a daze- that was the _last_ thing he needed to be in under these circumstances. He had to be alert, had to be ready to do what he could, to answer any questions that he was asked. That was what he could do to help Heiji in this situation. The ambulance was here now, and the emergency technicians were with Heiji as they spoke.

Everything would be fine. Heiji would be just fine. It was far too early to panic. Get it together, Kudo Shinichi. This was hardly the kind of situation that he needed to fall apart in.

"My friend collapsed." Conan finally managed to get out, breathing slightly easier than before. "He's been sick since this afternoon, but he suddenly got a lot worse. I don't know what's wrong with him, Subaru-san."

"I'm sure the doctors will figure it out." Subaru reassured him, watching as Conan finally seemed to collect himself. "You don't have to try and solve medical mysteries too."

"Right. You're right." Conan said, slowly nodding his head. As he heard the sound of footsteps coming from within the Professor's house, he watched at the technicians reemerged, Heiji's still unconscious body having been placed carefully on their stretcher. It was the second time that he'd watched him be rushed into the back of an ambulance, and the situation was _far_ more dire than the first.

And considering that the first time this had happened was back when he had been _shot_ , that was saying something. Heiji had managed to laugh off his injury back then- Conan could only hope that the same would be true for his friend now.

"Go with him." With a slight nudge from Subaru, Conan glanced up at him. "I'll contact the Mouris for you. You're worried about him, are you not?"

"Right. I should, you're right. Thank you, Subaru-san." Flashing him the best smile he could manage under these circumstances, Conan hurried into the ambulance, allowing the technicians to pull him up inside, too short to get in it without any assistance. For once he accepted the help without any complaint. Now was hardly the time to be bothered by other people treating him like a child, he thought to himself, as he watched an oxygen mask being placed over Heiji's face.

As the ambulance doors closed behind him, he could just make out Subaru pulling out his cellphone, and the form of Ai, just making it up to the doorway. As the shrunken scientist took notice of the man, she couldn't help but direct a suspicious glance towards him, even in spite of the circumstances.

Still, he was probably just drawn out here by the sound of the sirens. He did live right next door, after all.

"Edogawa-kun appeared to be very shaken." Subaru noted, typing in the phone number to the Mouri Detective Agency into his phone. "What happened?"

"His friend collapsed." Ai said, her tone coming out sharper than she intended. Letting out a slight sigh, she felt the tension wash out of her shoulders- this wasn't the type of situation in which she should be suspicious of him. He probably _was_ just trying to help right now, regardless of whatever his real identity might be. "He was running a dangerously high fever, and his breathing was abnormal. His heart rate was too quick, as well. Something is clearly very wrong."

"I didn't catch the name of his friend." Subaru noted, his finger hovering over the call button, mildly impressed but simultaneously unsurprised by the rundown Ai had just given him. "If I'm to call Mouri-san to inform him of the situation, then I should probably know the name of the person who collapsed, correct?"

"Hattori Heiji." Ai supplied him, the sound of the sirens now becoming distant as it raced it's way towards the nearest hospital. She'd performed first aid as best she could- now all that could be done was leave it up to the professionals. "His name is Hattori Heiji."

"The high school detective of the west, is it?" Subaru couldn't help but note, the faintest of frowns on his face. Naturally, he'd heard about the Osakan detective's reputation before- as well as his connection to the owner of the house that he was currently residing in. This marked the first time he'd ever actually seen him, however, if only ever so briefly.

There had been something about that face- something that tugged at a distant part of Subaru's memory, even just from that brief glimpse. It wasn't that he felt he'd ever met the high school detective before- if anything, the faint memory it stirred within him was of a face that belonged to a man at least twenty years Hattori Heiji's senior. And yet even so, except for the indications of age, the two were virtually identical.

He couldn't deny that it bothered him, but he couldn't quite place a name with the half remembered face. It must have been something he had only heard of in passing, then- but nevertheless, he would look into it in the near future.

But for the moment, he had a rather important phone call to make.


	2. Outbreak

AN: And here's the second chapter, hot off the presses! I got a pretty good flow with this one and I'm pretty pleased with how it came out, all things told! Thanks to everyone who read, favorited, and followed this story last time- but especially to everyone who reviewed! You guys are what keeps me moving forward!

* * *

 **Collapse**

 **Chapter Two**

 **Outbreak**

* * *

By the time Mouri Ran had made her way to the side of her young ward, her arms wrapped tightly around the all too small form of Conan, she was more than a little out of breath.

She had just been starting to wonder where it was that Conan had gone off to, when the agency's phone had rang. It had been her father, pulling himself somewhat out of a drunken stupor, who had been the one to answer the phone- and from the way he sobered up quickly during the short duration of the call, Ran could tell that something was wrong. At first, she was terrified that something might have happened to Conan- and while that thankfully hadn't been the case, the alternative wasn't much better.

Her father had called for a taxi, and Ran had frantically called to inform Kazuha about this turn of events. Judging from the short conversation she had with her over the phone, the poor girl had been terrified by the news she had been given- and had quickly promised to come right over, with Heiji's parents in tow.

"It's going to be just fine, Conan-kun." Ran was quick to reassure her young ward, trying to keep her voice soft, and her own worries out of it. "I'm sure Hattori-kun is going to be just fine."

"Ran... neechan." Conan swallowed, briefly slipping up with her name. Thankfully she barely even seemed to notice it under these circumstances. In any other situation he would have been flustered and embarrassed at being this close to the girl he loved- but right now, this was exactly the kind of comfort that he needed. "The doctors still haven't come out of Heiji-niichan's room. They won't let me go in either."

It twisted his gut, having to keep up his act even under these circumstances. But he had no choice.

"It'll be alright, Conan-kun." Ran repeated herself, slowly pulling herself away from him, placing a hand on his face, soft and gentle. "You did a good job, calling the ambulance like you did. And don't worry, I already called Kazuha-chan. She and Hattori-kun's parents are probably already on their way."

"Right." Slowly nodding his head, Conan dimly realized that in his panic, he'd _completely_ forgotten about contacting Heiji's parents- and was grateful that Ran had the mind to call his childhood friend. "Thank you, Ran-neechan. Will you stay with me?"

"Of course I will." Ran told him, keeping her voice soft, reaching up to lightly stroke his hair. "I won't go anywhere, Conan-kun. I'll be right here by your side." Carefully removing her hand from his head, she took the seat next to him, placing her hand over his own. She couldn't help but notice the slight way in which it trembled- and she worked to steady that of her own, to be a rock that Conan could lean on under these circumstances.

He always acted as if he were wise beyond his years, but right now, all Ran could see in him was a frightened child, desperately worried for someone that he had come to view as an older brother. She too, was deeply worried for Heiji- although she wasn't as close to him as she was Kazuha, she'd nevertheless grown very fond of the friendly, hotblooded Osakan. She almost couldn't believe her ears when her father had informed her that he'd apparently collapsed, and that Conan was on the way to the hospital with him in an ambulance.

But it was reality.

"It was just supposed to be a summer cold." Conan almost whispered. "How did it come to this?"

"I'm sure the doctors will figure out what's wrong with him, Conan-kun." Ran softly reassured him, sparing a brief glance up towards her father as he finally caught up with them. Silently, the man took the empty seat next to her, an unusually grim expression on his face. "I'm sure he'll be just fine. Goodness knows, Hattori-kun's survived so much already."

Slowly nodding his head, Conan turned towards Ran, giving her the best smile that he possibly could. "I'm sure you're right, Ran-neechan."

He could only hope that she really _was_ correct.

* * *

It felt as if she had been holding her breath, ever since she had gotten that phone call from Ran.

She'd known at once that something was wrong from the tone of her voice alone. There was a high note of panic the likes of which she hadn't heard since she'd called her after Conan had been shot. With that in mind, she had half expected Ran to tell her that her young ward had gotten himself hurt again, but she soon realized that the sense of dread that had been creeping up on her ever since she heard the phone ring had a much closer, far more personal meaning.

Heiji had collapsed.

She'd heard from Shizuka of course, that he'd slipped away when she was looking, to head to Beika to work on a case there. Having grown up with him, Kazuha could understand full well why his mother had been so worried- even if Heiji's cough hadn't amounted to much yet, he'd always been the type who didn't deal at all well with falling ill. It was like his entire personality would change, all of the energy sucked out of him, developing a somewhat clingy need to not be alone. It was often between herself or his mother to keep him company during such times, reading him books, or watching television with him, or just otherwise staying by his side until he fell asleep.

But he'd never collapsed before, not even once.

Something was wrong, she knew it in her gut. It was a deep, dark feeling that threatened to engulf her should she let it, and she had to listen to the fervent pounding of her own heart just to keep it at bay. She'd called Shizuka the moment she'd gotten off the phone with Ran to inform her of the situation, and quickly began packing her own bag as she spoke. She would head straight to the airport and catch the next flight to Tokyo out.

In the end, Shizuka and Heizo alike had caught up with her. Even Heiji's father, stoic as he usually was, couldn't seem to quite keep that up underneath the circumstances- his worry was almost as clear as day on his face. Shizuka nearly had her husband's hand in a vice grip, using it to steady herself, helping her to take each step forward.

Why couldn't this have happened when he was closer to them? Why did it have to happen when he was all the way out in Tokyo?

Why had it happened _at all_?

Kazuha felt as if she were in a daze. During the entire plane ride, and during the taxi ride to the hospital, she only had the faintest understanding of what was transpiring around her. It was only once they crossed the threshold of the hospital, stepping within it's doors, that she snapped back into focus, hurrying with Heiji's parents to the front desk, hearing them ask after their child.

The fact that the doctors were still examining him, even an hour later, was clearly not something any of them wanted to hear. They were directed towards where those already waiting for news were, and it was then that they finally joined up with the Mouris and Conan. As soon as Ran saw Kazuha, the girl sprung to her feet, rushing over to her side and scooping her into a close embrace.

"Has there been any news yet, Ran-chan?" Kazuha barely trusted her voice, but it apparently had managed to come out just fine, thank god.

"Not yet, Kazuha-chan." Ran told her, keeping her voice soft and gentle, knowing just from one look what kind of state her friend was in now. If something like this happened to Shinichi, she would be very much the same. "Let's come and sit, shall we?" Gently taking her hand, Ran lead her to a seat, Kogoro silently moving over one so that the ponytailed girl could sit next to Ran.

"He _has_ ta be okay, Ran-chan." Kazuha said, her grip tight on her friend's hand. "He's never collapsed like this before."

"He hasn't?" The question had come from Conan, and it gave Kazuha a slight start. She almost hadn't even noticed that he was here, even though she knew full well that Conan had been the one by Heiji's side when he'd collapsed. She should thank him later, when she got some clarity of focus back. "Heiji-niichan told me that he didn't handle being sick very well, so I thought that maybe..."

When he trailed off, Kazuha knew that he was unable to finish that sentence. He had probably been holding out the hope that this was something that had happened before, that this was something Heiji had pulled through before. As Kazuha slowly shook her head, she watched as the bespectacled boy paled a little.

"No, never." Kazuha told him, shaking her head. "It's true that Heiji's pretty useless when he's sick, but somethin' like this has never happened. This is the first time he's had ta go ta the hospital for an illness. Usually he just doesn't have any energy- somethin' like has never happened before."

"He did randomly fall asleep a lot when he was very young, but it was different from this." Shizuka noted, glancing worriedly over towards her husband. In different circumstances, Conan would have caught the silent conversation that she seemed to be having with her husband, but to be perfectly honest, he still wasn't quite thinking straight.

"We can only wait for the doctors now, Shizuka." Heizo told her, all members of the party giving somewhat of a start at the very audible note of concern in the usually stoic man's voice. Of course, they all knew full well hat he cared deeply for his son, even if he didn't show it on the surface, but he must have been deeply shaken if he was letting it come to the forefront like this.

"You're right, Heizo." Shizuka said, her voice soft, worry etched into every line of her face. "He'll be alright. He's been through so much before this... I'm certain he'll be alright."

For now the only thing any of them could was wait, and hold their breath.

* * *

When the doctor came out, everyone knew from the tight expression on her face that everything was _not_ alright.

Shizuka and Heizo rose to their feet, wife and husband hand in hand as they approached the doctor, sensing that she was having difficulty judging _which_ of the adults in the party were the boy's parents. "How is our son, doctor?" Shizuka asked her, a silent plea in her voice to tell her that he was alright, that everything was alright, that he was going to be okay.

"For the moment, his condition is stable." The doctor told them, and all at once, those gathered let out a breath of relief. It quickly caught in their throats again as the grim look on the woman's face didn't change. "We're still in the process of running tests right now, however..." She trailed off a little, glancing towards the other members of the party, before she returned her gaze to her patient's parents. "Perhaps it would be best to continue this conversation in private."

"Yes, of course." Heizo was the one who spoke, feeling his wife's hold on his hand tighten into a death grip. Asking to talk in private- that was never a good sign.

"Very good." The woman nodded her head, silently escorting the pair towards her office. Nobody really noticed when Conan reached out a hand, carefully seeming to stick something on the back of Shizuka's kimono, their thoughts all focused elsewhere at the time. As the woman lead the pair into her office, opening up the door to let them in, before entering the room herself and closing it behind her, she let out a long breath.

This wasn't going to be easy. It never was.

"Allow me to start with introducing myself. My name is Hikawa Akiko, and it seems I'm to be your son's primary care doctor while he's here with us." Offering them her hand, each of them gave it a firm shake.

"I am Hattori Shizuka, Heiji's mother, and this is my husband, Heizo." Shizuka told her, watching as the woman blinked slightly, doing a double take towards the man, doubtlessly recognizing his name. Her husband was rather well known after all. Whenever something serious happened within Osaka, it was always her husband who would appear on television to inform people of what the situation was. It seemed that she hadn't expected her patient to have such an important parent.

"I-I see." Akiko stammered slightly, swallowing a bit. "I have heard of you."

As Heizo gave the woman a firm nod, she let out a breath, steadying herself once more. The news that she carried with her would not be easy for any parent to take, no matter where they stood on the food chain.

"How is our son, Hikawa-sensei?" Shizuka asked again.

"As I mentioned before, we're still currently in the process of running tests, however..." Akiko closed her eyes, taking in and letting out a deep breath, steeling herself to deliver the bad news. "Currently, his prognosis isn't good. Your son is dying, Hattori-san."

Shizuka's breath caught in her throat, and Heizo's expression only grew more steely and harder to read. It was the news no parent wanted to hear.

"To put it in the simplest terms that I can, your son's body is currently in the process of collapsing in on itself. Quite frankly, we don't quite know what to make of it at the current moment, and we haven't been able to discover the root cause- but I promise you, we are working on that, and we are doing everything in our power." Akiko was quick to say. "But the fact remains that as it stands, your son is gradually dying, and there isn't currently much we can do about it. We can only slow it down, but we can't stop it- not until we find out what's _causing_ it."

"I am sorry. I truly am." Akiko told them. "The other doctors are busy at work looking for answers, and I promise you that we will not rest until we find them. I know this is news that no parent wants to hear, but we will keep searching for answers until we find them."

Or until he drew his very last breath, whichever came first- but she wasn't about to say something like _that_ aloud to two visibly grieving parents.

"Is there anything you can do for him, Hikawa-sensei?" Heizo spoke up. The words were like a bullet to the man's heart- he'd always been worried that Heiji would have gotten himself killed by foolishly and recklessly charging into a dangerous situation, not from something like _this_.

"Currently we have managed to stabilize his condition for the time being." Akiko told him. "We've managed to bring his fever down and put his heart rate under control. We currently have him hooked up to a stable oxygen supply, so his breathing has gotten better, however... there is a limit to what we can do for now. At the very least, we can ensure that he won't suffer much."

"But I am grateful that the two of you came so quickly." Akiko continued. "Currently we are under the impression that it's something within your son's body itself that is the root cause of his sudden illness- if we take samples of your blood and DNA, we may be able to begin to uncover an answer."

 _Oh dear_ , Akiko thought to herself as she watched the parents exchange a look. There was something about that exchange that she didn't like, and she had a tight feeling in her stomach that she knew what they were going to say next. In fact, she'd suspected it ever since they had greeted her.

"I'm afraid we can't help you much there, Hikawa-sensei." Shizuka spoke softly, her voice almost catching in her throat. "Heiji is... that is to say, he's not our biological son. He's adopted."

"Oh." Blinking slowly, Akiko quickly recovered herself. She had a sinking feeling that this would be the case- especially when the boy's own medical history only seemed to begin at around three years of age. "Well then, in that case do you have the medical histories or at least the names of his biological parents? We may still be able to uncover something from those."

"I'm sorry, Hikawa-sensei." Shizuka shook her head. "We don't have anything like that. We don't know who his biological parents are."

"I see." Akiko's eyes narrowed- these were hardly the ideal circumstances under which to work in, and made her job all the more difficult. If she had to be perfectly honest, she had never seen anything like this in her twenty-some odd years of practicing medicine. It was as if the boy's body was just shutting down, as if it had hit some kind of wall, and could no longer move forward. "I understand, Hattori-san. In that case, we will double our efforts with what we _can_ do."

"I promise you, we will do _everything_ we can to save your son."

* * *

"Is something wrong, Conan-kun?" Ran asked, glancing down at the young boy sitting next to her. He'd been acting a bit strangely ever since Heiji's parents had left with the doctors, and while they were all worried, nervously waiting for them to return, it appeared that Conan had momentarily forgotten how to breathe.

"A-ah, no, it's nothing, Ran-neechan!" Conan said quickly, shaking his head. Since he wasn't certain how forthcoming Heiji's parents would be with them, he'd taken the initiative of sticking one of the Professor's listening devices onto Shizuka's kimono when nobody was looking- and he almost half-regretted the action now.

He didn't know what to make of what he'd just overheard.

Hattori Heiji- his rival, his trusted ally, his _best friend_ \- was _dying_ , and there was _nothing_ anyone could do to stop it. The doctors didn't even seem to have a clue as to _why_ it was happening in the first place.

If this was a nightmare, he'd very much like to wake up now, please and thank you.

The news that Heiji was adopted barely even registered with him, almost next to nothing in comparison to the blow that had been delivered before it. In the back of his head, he could only guess that Heiji himself likely had no idea about the fact that he wasn't blood related to his parents- and probably not Kazuha either, for that matter, he thought, his gaze shifting over towards his childhood friend, her hands clutching her charm so tightly that her knuckles were beginning to turn white.

This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't be happening. There was... there had to be _something_ that he could do, there must have been... must have been something. He couldn't just sit here, completely powerless, while his best friend simply wasted away in front of him.

That's right, he thought to himself. He still had Haibara. She might have been the size of a first grader now, but she was still a brilliant scientist, a prodigy in the field. Maybe there was something that she could find out that the doctors had missed or overlooked, some way to overturn this death sentence that had been slapped onto the detective of the west.

It was worth a try, at the very least, and it was better than just sitting around and waiting for Heiji's time to run out.

When Heiji's parents rejoined them, they both had carefully schooled their expressions, giving no hint to the what surely must have been a very raw sense of grief they were experiencing. If he'd taken the news like a sucker punch to the gut, he could only imagine how those who had raised him since he was a child, blood related or not, must have been feeling.

He could only imagine how _Kazuha_ would take the news.

"Hattori-kun is still sleeping for the moment, but if you all would like to see him, that would be perfectly alright." The doctor informed them, a somber expression on her face. Kazuha nearly sprung to her feet at her words, as the rest of the party slowly rose to theirs. Carefully removing the listening device he'd placed on Shizuka's kimono and tucking it back away, Conan fought to keep his knowledge of what he'd overheard off of his face.

As Akiko opened up the door that lead to the room that Heiji had been rushed into, she silently motioned for the doctors that were still hovering over his unconscious body to give everyone a bit of space. Taking this as their cue to exit, they silently shuffled out of the room, leaving Heiji's parents, Kazuha, Ran, and Conan to enter the room. Kogoro lingered behind somewhat, watching his daughter with a look of concern on his face.

At the very least, Conan thought to himself as he looked down at the sleeping form of his friend, his breathing did seem steadier. There were countless monitors hooked up to him, beeping and flashing, only a few of them showing information that Conan knew how to interpret- the one monitoring his heart rate showing that it was still beating faster than it should have been, though not quite as frantically as it had been when he'd first collapsed. An IV drip had been inserted into one arm, and Conan found his eyes tracing up towards it, trying to place the name of the medicine being used and failing.

He should have been studying medicine.

Taking a seat by his bedside, Kazuha carefully reached out, taking the hand closest to her in her own. Heizo and Shizuka hovered back somewhat, doubtlessly thinking that they were alone with their knowledge and their grief that their son might never recover. Gently placing a hand on Kazuha's shoulder, Ran stood by her side, ever the faithful friend.

And Conan- he stood by the side of Heiji's bed, carefully watching him breathe, assisted by the oxygen mask placed over his nose and mouth. It was hard to think that it had only been a few hours ago now when he had helped the Osakan detective solve a case, his smile still bright back then.

Now he wasn't even sure if he'd ever wake up again, much less _survive_.

 _You have to fight this, Hattori_ , Conan thought, his expression mercifully hidden behind the glint of his glassed. _You have to fight this_.

* * *

They couldn't stay with him forever, as much as they wanted to. Kazuha had squeezed his hand as tightly as she dared before she left, as if silently trying to pass on some of her own energy to him.

She couldn't stand seeing him like that, and yet she didn't want to leave his side. Before she left the room, she removed his charm from his cellphone, and wrapped it around his free wrist. Even she didn't know if it would help him very much at this point, but it was better than doing nothing at all.

"Kazuha-chan." Shizuka's voice caught her attention, and she turned towards the room, watching as grief surfaced within her eyes. "I need to talk to you for a moment. In private, please."

Giving her a slow nod of her head, Kazuha parted ways from Ran, following behind the woman that she'd come to view as something akin to family to herself. Recently, she'd been dreaming of the day when they really _would_ become family- whenever she finally got the nerve to actually properly confess to Heiji. And yet for some reason, she couldn't help but feel those dreams slowly drifting away from her, suddenly out of reach and unobtainable.

"What is it, Auntie Shizuka?" Kazuha asked once they had found a properly deserted part of the hall in which to speak. "What did the doctor have ta say?"

"Kazuha-chan, I want you to listen to me, and listen to me carefully." Shizuka told her, her voice as gentle as it could possibly be. Carefully taking the younger girl's hands within her own, this girl that she had come to view as her own daughter over the years, the one she always thought she'd one day watch being walked down the aisle towards her son, who would one day become the mother of her grandchildren.

"Kazuha-chan," Shizuka began, her voice almost catching in her throat. She had resolved to tell her properly about this, not wanting to keep her in the dark. She and Heizo had yet to come to a decision about telling the truth to Heiji, provided that he woke up- though she supposed even if they tried to conceal it, he would figure it out on his own soon enough. He was smart, her son. Her dear, dear son.

"Heiji's prognosis isn't good."

It was as if the world had collapsed around her. For a moment, Kazuha forgot how to breathe, before she finally took one, feeling a wave of emotion gathering up at the banks, ready to burst through at any moment. She had been dreading hearing something like this ever since the doctor had escorted his parents away to speak with them in private, but she had been hoping against hope that what she feared the most wouldn't come true.

"Is he..." Kazuha began, her voice faltering somewhat. "Is he goin' ta live?"

"We don't know, honey." Shizuka's voice was soft, but her own pain was vivid in it, lacing every word. "The doctors are doing everything they can, but... they don't even know why this is happening yet."

"That can't..." Kazuha's breath caught in her throat again, feeling something hot gathering around the edges of her eyes. "That can't be right, Auntie Shizuka. I mean, this is _Heiji_ we're talkin' about here! The same idiot that got himself shot an' shoved into the ocean, an' lived ta tell the tale both times! He can't... He can't just... not like this."

"Believe me, Kazuha-chan, I understand." Shizuka told her, watching she fought back tears. "I know sweetie, I know. Hikawa-sensei has promised us that she'll do everything in her power, and that she won't give up hope until the very last, but..." Shaking her head, she almost couldn't even bring herself to say it. "Heiji's body is gradually dying."

What tears Kazuha had managed to hold back until this point burst forward freely now, like a dam breaking. Not knowing what else to do, Shizuka pulled her close, holding her in a tight embrace, allowing the girl to cry into her chest. She wanted to cry herself, honestly, but for the moment, she held back her own tears, becoming a place of support for this girl that she had come to care so dearly for.

Later, in private, with Heizo, she was certain her own tears would come. But until then, she would be a rock, holding fast and steady.

* * *

It was the feeling of a hand resting lightly on his head that roused him from his slumber. As his eyes slowly blinked open, Conan became aware of three things- that someone had draped a blanket over his shoulders, and that someone had taken off his glasses- but what normally would have sent him searching for said eyeglasses was put on hold by the third thing he'd noticed.

Heiji was awake.

"Hattori!" Conan blurted out. Whether it was because he was still half asleep or because his mind was elsewhere, he let his guard slip, even though he didn't know if anyone else was in the room now or not. Thankfully, a quick glance around him indicated that while this was the case, the only other person in the room was fast asleep herself, Kazuha's head resting on one arm, her body slouched over the arm rest of her chair.

"Yer droolin', Kudo." Heiji managed to crack, the sound of his voice somewhat obscured by his oxygen mask. "Good mornin'."

Letting out a small sigh of relief, Conan felt a small amount of tension wash out of his shoulders. Honestly, he hadn't been certain if Heiji was going to wake up again or not- but it appeared that with his condition somewhat more stable, he'd been able to recover some energy. The Osakan detective was clearly still pretty weak, his bright grin lackluster in comparison to his usual.

But he was awake.

"Is it morning already?" Conan mumbled, glancing over towards the nearest clock. It was already three in the morning, as it turned out. He must have drifted off at some point. Judging from the fact that he was the only one with a blanket draped over him, he could only assume that the one who had put it there had been Kazuha herself, before she had succumbed to her body's need for sleep as well. Both he and Kazuha had been very insistent about not leaving Heiji's side until he woke up- though Conan had sent a mail to Ai, letting her know that he wanted her to join him here as soon as she could, and to bring things to take samples with.

"Close enough." Heiji told him, a slight chuckle escaping from his lips. "I'm in the hospital, huh?"

Swallowing, Conan's breath caught in his throat, for a moment not trusting his own voice. Instead, he gave Heiji a slow nod, before he finally managed to speak up again. "Yeah. You collapsed at the Professor's house. I called an ambulance and they brought you here. Ran called Kazuha-san, and Kazuha-san called your parents."

"I see." Heiji said, closing his eyes for a moment, his breath lightly fogging the oxygen mask. "Sorry, Kudo. I've put ya through quite a bit of trouble."

"You don't have to apologize for being sick, Hattori." Conan said simply, a deep frown on his features. There was far more to it than him simply being sick, but the shrunken detective found it difficult to say. Someone would have to tell him eventually, provided he didn't realize it himself already.

For once he genuinely hoped Heiji's own skills as a detective would be dramatically lacking in comparison to his own.

"Thanks fer stayin' with me, Kudo." Heiji spoke up, opening his eyes again and turning his head so that he was looking towards him. Lifting up a hand, he reached out again, lightly patting his head. The motion lacked the usual vigor behind it, but it was still strangely comforting as opposed to annoying, much as the shrunken detective normally found it. "Are you still gonna try an' deny that ya think of me as yer best friend after this?"

"Idiot, I don't have to say it for you to know." Conan scoffed, his eyes narrowing as Heiji's hand slid away from his head, falling back on his bed. "I'm just glad that you woke up again."

"It's that bad, huh?" Heiji asked, before letting out a small laugh, reaching up his other hand, running it through his hair as best he could. "Ya know, don't ya, Kudo."

Swallowing, Conan once again found that he could only nod in response, his all too small hands clutching at the fabric of his shorts. "I know."

"Kazuha too?" Heiji asked, casting a glance in the direction of his slumbering childhood friend, the charm that she had wrapped around his wrist catching the corner of his eye as he did so.

"I think your mother told her." Conan said, his voice quiet. The ponytailed girl hadn't said anything out loud, but when Kazuha returned from speaking with Shizuka with red-rimmed eyes, it had been pretty obvious to him that she'd been given the bad news. "Hattori, you-"

"It's okay, Kudo. Ya don't need ta say it." Heiji told him, turning his gaze back up towards the ceiling, dropping his hand from his face. "Who do ya think I am, after all? I could tell just from lookin' at yer sorry face."

"It's too early to give up just yet, Hattori." Conan spoke up after a moment. "The doctors might still find something, and even if they can't, Haibara might. She's a genius, after all, even at that size."

"Idiot, who said anythin' about givin' up?" Heiji asked, shooting him a rather disgruntled look. "Sounds like ya really _did_ manage to forget who I am. Ya really think I'm the type ta throw in the towel that easily?"

In spite of everything, Conan found a small hint of laughter escaping from him. "No. You're not that type of person at all, Hattori."

"Ya got that right." Heiji said, lifting a hand up to give his friend a light flick on the forehead. There was barely any strength behind it, Conan couldn't help but notice, sending home the reality that his friend really was still in quite the bad fix. "Don't be so quick ta count me out."

"Sorry, Hattori." Conan said after a moment. "I'm just... I'm worried about you. Everyone is."

"I'm touched." Unable to keep the cheeky grin off of his face, Heiji nevertheless felt his eyelids once again growing heavier. It wasn't the overpowering weariness that had claimed him earlier, just run of the mill exhaustion- he could fight it off for awhile longer. "Wake up Kazuha, would ya? At this rate I'm gonna drift right back off ta sleep again without havin' said anythin' ta her."

"Ah, right." Hoping off the chair he'd been sitting on, feeling his bones creak in protest as she did so, Conan snatched up his glasses, setting them back on his face, before he went to rouse Kazuha. She came back to the world of the waking slowly- but once her eyes fixed on the bespectacled boy before her, she seemed to snap back to awareness, eyes darting over towards Heiji's bed.

"Heiji!" Kazuha called out, hurriedly racing to his side. Sensing that perhaps they wanted a bit of alone time, Conan made his way out of his hospital room, pausing as he caught sight of Ran fast asleep on the bench just outside, a blanket draped over her, her head resting on her father's lap. Kogoro was still awake, drinking a coffee and reading the newspaper, taking brief notice of Conan when he came out. Only Shizuka and Heizo had retreated to a nearby hotel- he couldn't blame either of them, they needed some privacy after the news they had been hit with.

Carefully taking Heiji's hand in her own, a look of relief washed over Kazuha's face, even as tears threatened to come once again. She pushed them back for the moment, not wanting to lose anything he might have to say to her to them. "Ya woke up. I'm really, _really_ glad."

"Sorry, ta make ya come out all this way, Kazuha. Don't ya have a match comin' up soon?" Heiji asked, flashing her the best grin he could manage under these circumstances.

"Idiot, that doesn't matter now!" Kazuha huffed. "What matters is that ya concentrate on gettin' better, Heiji, fightin' this with everythin' ya got in ya!"

"Fight, huh?" Reaching up towards her face, Heiji placed his free hand, the one his charm still dangled from, on her cheek, his expression softening somewhat. "Ya've been cryin', haven't ya?"

Placing her hand over his own, Kazuha all but buried herself in it, shutting her eyes tight, not wanting them to betray her. "Of course I have, Heiji. Auntie Shizuka told me... she told me some awful things. There's no way I wouldn't cry."

"I don't plan on goin' anywhere, Kazuha." Heiji told her, his voice soft for once. "No matter what it is the doctors say."

Giving him a small nod, Kazuha opened her eyes, slowly sliding into the chair that Conan had abandoned. "When did ya realize it, Heiji?"

"They don't call me the great detective of the west fer nothin', ya know." Heiji told her, turning his head so that he could look at her better. Shifting the position of his hand, he took Kazuha's in his own, dimly noting how weak his own grip was. "I can at least detect what's goin' on with my own body. But I don't plan on goin' anywhere Kazuha, I can promise ya that much."

Closing his eyes, Heiji turned his head, gaze fixed on the ceiling for a long moment- before he let a sigh escape from his lips, turning back towards her once more. "But even if I say that, there's somethin' that I need ta go ahead an' tell ya now. I don't want ta regret it later if I lose the chance ta say it."

"Really, I wanted ta bring ya ta someplace special when I told ya this, but it appears that's out of my hands right now." Giving her a small laugh, Heiji flashed a wry grin at her. "After all, Kudo got ta confess in front of the Big Ben, I thought at the very least I had ta try an' do a little better than him, especially after blurtin' out somethin' that important on Ebisu Bridge of all places."

Instantly realizing what it was that he was talking about, Kazuha felt her breath catch in her throat. "You mean..."

"Yeah." Giving a slight nod of his head, Heiji's expression shifted towards one of fondness. "I love ya, Kazuha. More than anyone else in the world. Sorry, that the conditions I'm tellin' ya this under are less than ideal. If I'd known this was gonna happen, I would have just owned up right then an' there."

"Idiot, I don't care about things like that!" Kazuha snapped lightly at him, her own grip on his hand tightening slightly. The tears that had been threatening to fall earlier now started to drip down- although for entirely different reasons than before. "I love ya too, Heiji. I've been tryin' ta confess ta ya all this time myself, ya know."

"Really?" Heiji blinked, snorting a little. "I guess the two of us really have no luck fer this sort of thing."

"Really, tell me about it." Kazuha complained, unable to keep a smile off of her face. It was strange- just hearing those words seemed to give her a small bit of courage, a thread of belief that everything would somehow be okay. "Of course, now that ya've told me all this Heiji, I expect ya ta stick around me until I become an old lady. Ya got that, right?"

"I heard ya loud an' clear, don't worry." Heiji told her. "I won't be goin' anywhere, Kazuha. I promise."

"You'd better keep this one, idiot."


	3. Diagnosis

AN: And at long last, here's chapter three! Wasting no time in heating things up, let's start getting into the real meat of the story! I know I've said this before, but I'm pretty excited for what's to come, so I hope everyone's just as excited to read it as well!

Thanks for reading, please be so kind as to leave a review on your way out!

* * *

 **Collapse**

 **Chapter Three**

 **Diagnosis**

* * *

It felt as if it had been a very long, long night.

Getting Haibara Ai into Heiji's hospital room had been one thing. No one really questioned one of Conan's friends coming to see him, especially not one who had been there with him when Heiji had collapsed. What _was_ a challenge was securing enough alone time to ensure that Ai could obtain all of the samples that she needed without anything noticing. She'd arrived more than prepared, ready to devote herself to the case in front of her in a manner that wasn't entirely unlike himself when he set out to unravel a long mystery.

This clearly was Haibara Ai- no, _Miyano Shiho_ \- in her element.

Quite frankly, she almost hadn't believed the news when Conan had gotten in touch with her. She knew right away from the sound of his voice that something was wrong, but never in a million years could she have imagined that someone who seemed as otherwise healthy as Hattori Heiji had up until that point could possibly be _dying_ , even she had watched him collapse before her very eyes herself. Said eyes narrowed with thought as she finished drawing a blood sample, securely tucking it back away in her bag, Ai couldn't help but cast a glance over towards Conan.

She wasn't used to seeing him like this, and hoped that she would be able to obtain the answers that he sought. She wasn't sure what kind of impact Heiji's death would have on him, but it would clearly shake the young detective to his core. That, quite frankly, was something that she didn't want to see.

Of course, she didn't exactly want Heiji to die either, even though she didn't know him all that well. He seemed like a rather pleasant, if not somewhat loud fellow, a stark contrast to his rival. She didn't doubt that there would be many who would feel Heiji's absence just as strongly as she felt that of her older sister's, and it was a feeling that she didn't wish on anyone.

"That's all the samples that I need, for now at least." Ai said simply, zipping her bag back up. "How are you feeling otherwise, Hattori-kun?"

"Terrible." Heiji replied truthfully, sparing her a glance. They'd managed to prop him in an upright position, as he had been getting tired of lying down. He was just well enough to manage to have the energy to be bored, but sick enough to not have the energy to actually do anything to alleviate the aforementioned boredom. Getting poked and prodded by a girl who looked half his age was actually interesting in comparison to the _nothing_ he had been doing before she'd arrived, at the very least. "But alive. Fer the moment anyways."

"Well, let's try and keep it that way." Ai replied simply. "For the moment, the doctors here seem to be doing a fine job at keeping your condition stable, but judging from what Kudo-kun overheard, it might not stay that way for long. You should be prepared for a long fight ahead of you, Hattori-kun."

"Well aren't ya just a ray of sunshine?" Heiji noted, quirking a brow. "Well, yer probably right though." He noted, placing a hand over his own chest. The rhythm of his heartbeat was still off, still too fast, if not as rapid as it had been earlier. "I guess I can only hope that you'll turn somethin' up, little Neechan."

"One of these days, I'm going to get you to use my actual name." Ai noted, carefully getting up out of her seat. Even without having to run any tests, it was clear as day to her that Heiji's condition was far from good- what information that Conan couldn't gather from the monitors that Heiji was hooked up to, she _could_ , after all. "I suggest you try not dying before then."

"I'll do my best." Flashing her the best grin that he could manage under the circumstances, Heiji cast a look back over towards Conan. "Why so quiet today, Kudo? Ya got somethin' on yer mind?"

"You know full well what I've got on my mind, Hattori." Conan told him, heaving a long sigh. "This isn't something to joke about."

"I can't help it. It's my nature." With a slight shrug, Heiji reached a hand over, giving him a light pat on the head. "Come on now, Kudo, ya know I don't like seein' ya down in the dumps. _I'm_ the one who's dyin' here, an' even _I_ don't have that kind of downtrodden expression on my face. Things'll work out, one way or another. Weren't you the one who tried ta lecture me on not givin' up hope?"

"That's true." Conan admitted after a moment, giving his friend a small smile. If Heiji himself could manage to maintain a positive attitude through all of this, then honestly, he had no excuse for at least not trying to remain somewhat optimistic. Heiji's upbeat attitude was one of the things that Conan felt was one of his rival's best points, so different in comparison to his own. "Haibara an' I will do what we can for you, Hattori. Which in my case, might not be all that much, I'm afraid." He admitted. "I'm afraid medical mysteries are a bit out of my depth."

"Well, thankfully, they're something I can more than handle." Ai noted simply. While her speciality was chemistry, she had a rather through understanding of human biology and medicine, as well as genetics. She wasn't called a genius for no reason, after all. Whatever was wrong with Heiji, she'd find the root cause of it soon enough, of that she had very little doubt of.

It was coming up with a treatment for it that was the main issue.

She'd actually wanted to acquire samples from Heiji's parents as well, but Conan had quietly pulled her aside, whispering to her that they held no blood ties to their son. Frankly, she wasn't at all surprised by the news- she'd seen photographs of the Hattori family before thanks to Conan. Frankly, she was just surprised that it seemed to be news to the shrunken detective himself- and even more surprised that it seemed that Heiji himself still wasn't aware of the fact.

Conan had decided against telling him- Heiji was already dealing with enough as it was, he didn't need information like that on top of everything else. His friend was putting on a good face, but there was no way he wasn't struggling when nobody was watching him. He _was_ dying, after all, and until some answers were found, there was literally nothing anyone could do to stop it.

Conan could only hope that they could slow it down long enough to find a way to save him.

"I'm countin' on ya, little Neechan." Heiji told her, his grin only growing as she shot him a dirty look at his persistent use of the nickname.

Giving him a slight nod, Ai picked up her bag, tucking it over her shoulder, and made a quick exit. She'd finished just in time too, from the looks of things- Ran and Kazuha were heading towards Heiji's hospital room. Briefly pausing to greet them, Ai made her way down towards the lobby, where the Professor had been waiting for her. She would return home and begin analyzing the samples that she had taken as soon as possible- there wasn't a moment to waste.

* * *

The animated chatter in the room quickly died the moment they noticed that Heiji had fallen back asleep. He'd drifted off somewhere in the middle of their discussion, and those who were keeping him company thought it best to allow him to get his rest for the moment. He was already lying back on the bed, having grown exhausted just from sitting up for half an hour.

It was a grim fact that none of them missed.

Even though seeing Heiji drift off to sleep planted within them a feeling of apprehension, a fear that this time he might really not wake back up again, they knew that he needed his rest. If his body really was trying to destroy itself, as the doctor had put it, then he needed all the energy he could get to fight back.

Quietly shuffling out of the hospital room, Kazuha felt her shoulders slump a little. She'd finally broken the truth to Ran early that morning, though she had debated telling her for awhile. When she'd heard the news, her eyes had welled up with tears, and she hurried to pull Kazuha into a tight embrace, promising her that everything would be alright, that it was too early to give up hope.

She'd taken the news that they were technically dating now much better, a small smile managing to make it's way out onto her face. Still, even that bit of joy couldn't really bring that much excitement to the situation they had all found themselves in, one which they could have never imagined happening, not in a million years. Heiji had always seemed so bright, so vibrant, so the idea that he was lying in a hospital bed and gradually dying was so alien to them- it almost didn't seem real.

Until they saw him, and they knew it was reality.

"He'll fight this, Kazuha-chan." Ran had told her, carefully taking her friend's hands in her own, holding them close. "Hattori-kun will fight this with everything he's got. I'm sure he'll be alright."

Kazuha had nodded her head and agreed with her as much optimism as she could muster. She already knew full well that he would- Heiji was never the kind to give in easily, not to anything or anyone. But she just didn't know if it would be _enough_ this time. She'd been by his side ever since she could remember, and she'd always been by his side whenever he'd gotten sick in the past- and it have never been like this. It had never been this _bad_ before.

How had it come to this?

Why was this happening now?

Why to _Heiji_?

It was those thoughts that weighed her down, causing her to stumble. As if the weight of everything hit her all at once, without warning, she didn't even realize that she'd lost her footing until she hit the floor, her head impacting with cold gray of the ground. She could hear a number of cries from around her- none from anyone she knew, everyone chattering away in standard Japanese, making her feel like she was in a strange land, somewhere she didn't know.

Ran and Conan had already gone back to the detective agency, to get a shower and a change of clothes. Heizo and Shizuka had remained behind with Heiji, watching over their sleeping son as the doctors resumed their tests, looking for some kind of key that would unlock the mystery of the strange illness that plagued the boy. It was probably better that none of them were around anyways, so none of them would have to see her in this state- still lying on the floor where she had fallen, unable to find the energy to move, hot tears threatening to fall once again.

"Are you quite alright?"

There was something in that voice that made Kazuha pull herself together- a slightly soft tone to it. As she slowly managed to push herself up off the floor, she wiped back her tears, giving a slow nod to the man who had spoken them. It was a person she didn't know, she thought, but even then, she could still make out the slight concern that was written in the creases of his face, as he extended a hand to her.

"I'm fine." Kazuha said after a moment, carefully taking his hand and allowing him to help her to his feet. "Thank you."

The man almost seemed as if he wanted to press- _almost_. For whatever reason, he chose to hold his tongue, for which Kazuha was grateful. She wasn't certain if she wanted to discuss all of this with a total stranger, however grateful she was for his show of concern. It was too close, too personal to her.

"If you're certain you're alright then. You may want to get that bump on your head looked at, though." The man advised her, bespectacled eyes glancing up towards her head, which was already starting to turn a bit red. "I'm afraid it might bruise."

"Ya may be right." Kazuha said, placing a hand up towards it, already feeling it throb somewhat underneath her hand. The pain seemed to bring her to her senses, however- she couldn't fall apart like this, not while Heiji was still doing his best to live. He was too early for that. "Thank ya again, mister...?"

"Okiya Subaru." The man introduced himself, giving her a small smile. At the mention of the name, Kazuha blinked, it stirring a slight memory in her, something that Ran had mentioned to her once before. "Is something wrong?"

"Ah, yes." Kazuha said, slowly nodding her head. "Um, this might be a strange question, but do ya know a Mouri Ran?"

"I certainly do." Subaru blinked slightly, easily deducing that this must have been one of the girl's friends that he hadn't yet met. He didn't have cause to cross paths with her very often- the last time they had met, he'd been distracted by a number of circumstances, the _least_ of which being the murder that had turned out not to be a murder after all. "Are you one of her friends?"

"Yes. I'm Toyama Kazuha." Kazuha introduced to herself, strangely feeling a little bit more at ease as she realized that the man wasn't a total stranger- they shared someone that they knew between them. "Um, I heard from Ran-chan already, but if I'm not mistaken, weren't ya the one who called her to let her know that Heiji was being taken to the hospital?"

"Yes. I happen to live in the house right next to the place where he had collapsed, and heard the sirens outside of my window." Subaru told her, quickly putting two and two together- this was convenient. He'd actually come to the hospital in hopes of finding the one who gave his name to the world as Edogawa Conan. He owed the boy his life, after all, he couldn't help but be more than a _little_ concerned about the state he was in the previous night.

The strange feeling from last night, the strange sense of familiarity that seeing the face of Hattori Heiji had brought up within him, hadn't faded either. He had questions about that as well, though he had a suspicion that for once, they weren't questions that Edogawa Conan- no, _Kudo Shinichi_ , would have answers for.

"Do you happen to know if a young boy named Edogawa Conan is still here? I wanted to check on him after last night." Subaru asked her. If this girl really was tied to the detective of the west, like he assumed by their shared accent, then it was no small wonder he'd found her in the state that she was in.

It was enough for him to conclude the news was very, very bad.

"No, Conan-kun already left with Ran-chan." Kazuha told him, shaking her head. "They went back ta her place to get a shower an' a change of clothes. I was just headin' back to my hotel ta do the same myself." She said- before her stomach indicated something _else_ that she wanted to do, causing her to turn a bright shade of red.

That was right. Outside of a granola bar last night, she hadn't had much to eat ever since she'd gotten that phone call. She had completely forgotten.

"If you don't mind, why don't you let me treat you to something, Toyama-san?" Subaru asked. "You might find yourself starting to feel a bit better with something in you."

"Ya may be right." Kazuha admitted with a small laugh, amazed that she could still make that sound under these circumstances. "But I couldn't possibly trouble ya, Okiya-han. I hardly know ya."

"It would be no trouble at all, Toyama-san." Subaru told her with a slight smile. If he didn't miss his guess, Conan would return to the hospital as soon as he could- if he were to head back to the detective agency now, he'd probably only wind up missing him entirely. Better to stay nearby and wait. He had to admit, he was _slightly_ concerned about letting the girl out of his sight- whatever form of grief she was dealing with, it had obviously hit her very hard, all at once. "There's a cafe right across the street, in fact. Please, allow me to treat you."

Thinking it over for a short moment, her stomach giving out another slight growl. Placing a hand over it, Kazuha slowly nodded her head. Maybe a little food and a little light conversation to distract her would be just what the doctor ordered.

"Then, thank you. That would be lovely, Okiya-han."

* * *

There was a slight tremble in Shizuka's hands, one that only calmed when her husband placed his own over it. Most people did not view Hattori Heizo as a gentle man, given his stoic demeanor, but his touch was light and gentle, full of reassurance, even though she knew that he was just as worried as she. They had stayed behind with Heiji as long as they could after he had fallen asleep, but eventually the doctors had quietly asked them to leave the room, as they had more tests to conduct.

How many tests were they going to put her poor son through? They'd been running them ever since yesterday, and so far they'd turned up with nothing. Sometimes she caught them discussing things in hushed whispers, when they assumed none of the family or friends of their patient were listening. The way they quickly clammed up once they noticed that Shizuka was paying attention brought a cold feeling of dread to her, one that she just couldn't shake.

It had reached out, firmly holding her in it's grip ever since she'd heard that dreadful news yesterday, and it hadn't let her go since. She'd barely gotten any sleep last night, and when she did, she was haunted by nightmares, visions of a dreadful future where her son had ceased to exist.

Her son. Maybe not her own flesh and blood son, but _her_ son nonetheless.

It had been Heizo who had brought the boy home in the first place, long ago, back when he was merely a police detective. She'd just lost their second child only days ago, and he'd apparently thought that looking after the unknown, nameless boy might bring her some comfort. It had, in fact- she'd found her days becoming so busy that she barely had time to dwell on her loss, and by the time she did, it had become easier for her to bear. Back then, she didn't think either of them would have ever expected that this strange boy would one day become their very own son, but they had both nevertheless warmly accepted the young boy, who was probably no older than three, into their home.

Heizo had never quite given her the details of the case in which he'd found him, but he'd always seemed quite convinced that there would never be anyone coming to claim him. And sure enough, there wasn't. As days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, they slowly began to consider adopting him into their own family, making him one of their own. Perhaps Shizuka couldn't bear children of her own, but she'd love an adopted child no less, all the more so since he had no one else in the world to love him.

He hadn't even known his own name the first time they'd met. Shizuka had picked one out for him herself, beginning to call him Heiji, though it took the young boy even longer to realize that it was a word that referred to himself. Thinking back on it, it was a miracle that he'd been able to become the bright, clever young detective that he was today. When they first met, he didn't even know how to speak, couldn't understand words, barely knew how to walk, and quite honestly, didn't seem to understand how to do even the most basic of things.

And was already three years old at the time.

He'd learned quickly though. He'd had those bright eyes of his ever since they had first met, ever since he'd shown up at the Hattori household, being carried in Heizo's arms, his legs too shaky and uncertain on the ground to walk properly yet. Mimicking the actions of those around him, he'd eventually began to pick up on things, teaching himself skills that he should have known already by his age. It made Shizuka shudder to think what kind of life he might have had before then, though there were no outward signs of abuse.

Once he learned to talk, he'd never stopped, Shizuka couldn't help but think fondly, the Hattori household soon filled with the sound of his voice.

They had never told Heiji that he was adopted as he grew older, and began to forget the memories from his early childhood. They never quite wanted to tell him that they'd no idea who his biological parents were, much less where he'd come from in the first place, didn't want him to feel as if he somehow didn't belong among them. He had grown to embrace them just as much as they had him, and before they knew it, they had become a family in their own right.

"Heizo." Shizuka spoke up finally, glancing over at him. "Why our son?"

"I don't know, Shizuka." Heizo said, his eyes narrowing slightly. "We just have to put our faith in the doctors now. That's all we can do."

"It feels like there should more." Shizuka whispered, closing her eyes, drawing in and letting out a deep breath, trying to steel her against the wave of negativity that threatened to claim her should she so much as drop her guard. "I don't like just sitting and waiting."

"Neither do I." Heizo confessed after a moment, opening up one eye and casting it towards the hospital room where his son slept. His thoughts, like Shizuka's, dwelt on a time long past, back when he'd first met the young boy that they'd eventually come to call Heiji. The bright eyed unknown boy who knew nothing about the world around him, and yet had been filled with a certain eagerness to learn, who had latched on to him and had never let go. The first time that he'd seen that small hand reaching out to him, he'd had a suspicion that a bond would one day form between them that nothing could break.

Nothing except the impending threat of death, it seemed.

* * *

"Thank you very much for treating me, Okiya-san." Kazuha told him, giving the bespectacled man a quick bow. "I really appreciate it."

He'd been right- she had started to feel somewhat better with some proper food in her. She no longer felt as if she was at the cusp of despair, just waiting for the final blow to push her over into the endless, yearning pit that stretched out before her. It had been both the food and the conversation that had pulled her away from it- she'd started by asking how he'd come to know Ran and Conan, and the conversation had taken on a life of it's own from there.

She still felt that ominous sense of dread, but it wasn't so powerful that it threatened to claim her anymore. Subaru had even been so considerate to walk her back to her hotel- she got the feeling that he was a bit worried about her. And who wouldn't be, after finding her in that state, really?

"No, it's hardly a problem at all." Subaru quickly reassured her. "Well then." With a slight incline of his head, the man excused himself. The hotel the girl was staying at with the parents of the collapsed boy was just up the street from the hospital, so returning to it was quite simple. As fate would have it, he spotted the face he had been looking for almost as soon as he arrived, being able to make out that small form even within the slight crowd that filled the lobby.

He'd spotted him too, and blinked, looking up at him in surprise. "Subaru-san?" Conan asked, more than a little flabbergasted at finding him here. Did Subaru have some business at the hospital himself? It hadn't occurred to him that he'd come out all this way out of concern for himself.

"Ah, Conan-kun." Subaru said, approaching him. "I'm glad that I ran into you here."

"Were you perhaps looking for me?" Conan asked, blinking again. Thankfully, he seemed to look like he was in a better state than he had been last night, although there was a trace of something in his expression that Subaru didn't quite like. He never could quite get the Toyama girl to speak about what was happening with the boy who had turned out to be her childhood friend, but he could guess that it was nothing good.

He probably wasn't dead yet, at the very least.

"I was." Subaru told him frankly. "You seemed very unlike yourself last night, Conan-kun." He noted. "Though you seem to be feeling somewhat better today. That's for the best."

"Ah, sorry for worrying you." Conan quickly apologized, shaking his head. Sometimes it was easy to forget that Okiya Subaru- no, _Akai Shuichi_ \- wasn't always as aloof as he appeared to be. "I was just in shock. I don't think I expected something like that to ever happen."

"Well, most people wouldn't." Subaru told him, glancing down at the small boy before him- the one he knew was far more than the child that he appeared to be. Yesterday evening, it had been different, but that gleam in his eyes had resurfaced today. "How is the boy, by the way? I was told that his name was Hattori Heiji... the high school detective of the west, isn't it? If I recall correctly, he's considered to be the rival of the owner of the house I'm currently staying in."

"Ah, yeah." Nodding his head slightly, Conan wasn't quite fazed by the fact that Subaru already seemed to know Heiji's name and reputation- there was no way he _hadn't_ done some digging into Kudo Shinichi, after all. Especially not since he was almost entirely certain that Subaru knew full well who he was. "He is. As for his condition..." He trailed off then, his expression masked by the glint of his glasses.

"It's... not very good." Conan said finally, letting out a long breath. "The doctors still don't know what's wrong with him."

Ah. That was never good news. Subaru felt as if he could understand the deep echoes of pain in the faces of not only the young boy before him, but the girl from earlier as well. "I'm sorry to hear that, Conan-kun. Hopefully he'll pull through."

He was quite familiar with the pain of losing someone important to you already- he'd rather the young boy not have to go through something like that himself. Seventeen, Subaru thought, was far too young an age to die at.

Though still, he found that unfamiliar yet familiar face bubbling up in his memory, unable to help but note the resemblance it bore to the face of the high school detective in question. He'd looked up some information about Hattori Heiji the previous night, but the boy's _own_ face certainly didn't spark any form of recognition within him. So who was this man that his face brought to mind?

Certainly, it had never been anyone he'd met before- but perhaps it had been someone he'd investigated in the past. It would be worth looking into, he thought, it having caught his interest in the way it had.

"I can only hope so." Conan said, flashing him a small smile. "Do you want to come and see him yourself, Subaru-san?"

"No, I shouldn't intrude." Subaru told him, shaking his head. "And I won't hold you up here any longer, Conan-kun. If there's anything you need however, do give me a call."

"I will." With a slight nod of his head, Conan let a genuinely grateful smile grace his features. "Thank you, Subaru-san."

* * *

"Ai-kun, why don't you take a short break?"

The worried tone of the Professor roused Ai from her research, and she glanced up at him, before heaving a long sigh. Just as she had promised Conan and Heiji, she had been thoroughly studying all of the samples that she had taken, trying to discover the root cause of what was causing Heiji's illness. She was beginning to understand what the doctor meant by his body collapsing in on itself, because that was almost quite literally what was happening- though perhaps it would be even more accurate to say that he had simply hit a wall.

"Professor, these results don't make _any_ sense." Ai told him, allowing some of her frustration to show on her face, as she scratched her head. It wasn't as if she hadn't been able to turn up results, but it was those very same results that were the source of her frustrations at the current moment. She hadn't known what to expect when she began looking into them- perhaps some kind of rare illness, or some kind of a genetic mutation that triggered this, but what she had ended up with was far more baffling than any of that.

"How so, Ai-kun?" Agasa asked, setting the cup of tea that he had made for her. He'd considered making coffee at first, before deciding that the shrunken scientist already looked a little too high strung, and decided that perhaps something more relaxing, and lacking in caffeine would be better for her. "I'm not as familiar with biological sciences as you are."

"Kudo-kun told me that what he overheard the doctors telling Hattori-kun's parents was that his body was collapsing in on itself, and it seems like that wasn't an exaggeration." Ai told him, peering into her microscope again, glancing at the sample that she'd carefully slid underneath it. Really, she wished that she had even more powerful tools, but she would have to make do with what she had here.

"It's almost as if Hattori-kun's body has reached it's limit." Ai told him, pulling herself away from the microscope again, rubbing her forehead. Finally acknowledging the cup of tea and taking a long drink from it, she heaved a sigh, trying to calm her thoughts at least a little. The tea helped, a bit. "Which makes no sense to me, given how healthy he's been up until this point. I even managed to pull his medical records, of which there's no hint of any significant abnormalities, other than a brief period of time when he was three in which he couldn't regulate his sleep cycle properly."

Sensing that Agasa was slightly at a loss for that last line, Ai heaved a sigh. "In other words, he fell asleep without warning a lot. It appeared to clear up within the year, however."

Granted, said medical records _also_ hadn't started until he was three, but given the fact that Conan had told him that Heiji's parents had no idea who his biological parents were, it was a given that something like that might be the case. It was hardly enough to raise a red flag, there were _plenty_ of adopted children in the world that had no way of knowing who their biological parents were.

"Which is, admittedly, abnormal, but it's unlikely to be related to his current condition." Ai finished. "Just by looking at these samples, I can conclude the same thing his doctors have- that his body is breaking down. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was pre-destined, but there don't seem to be any genetic abnormalities that would have triggered something like this, as far as I can tell. It's almost just like his body _gave up_."

"Is there anything you can do?" Agasa asked, his brows knitting together with worry. He might not know the boy well, but he knew how close he was to Shinichi, to the point the boy considered him one of his closest friends. "Some kind of medicine you could develop?"

"Maybe. _Possibly_." Ai said, closing her eyes for a moment, leaning back in her chair. "At the very least, I'm fairly certain I could synthesize something that would temporarily prevent his body from breaking down as it is, but even that's not a permanent solution. He'd have to take regular injections, and I doubt his health would improve very much even with such an agent in the first place. He'd go from being completely healthy to being _incredibly_ physically weak, and that's quite frankly, not much of an answer."

"Even then it would only be a matter of time before his body's deterioration managed to go beyond what such an agent could control." Ai told him, finally opening her eyes, allowing a clear expression of distress surface in them. She didn't like the idea of allowing someone to slowly die before her eyes, especially not when she'd promised to do everything that she could to save them. "Granted, it might allow me time to more thoroughly research the causes of his current condition, but he might be confined to the hospital for the duration of however long that could take. Months, if not _years_ , provided he even _has_ that type of time, which I doubt he does."

There was a moment of hesitation there, before Agasa finally broke what he thought was a vital question. "How much time _does_ he have, Ai-kun?"

"At best, I'd say he has a month left." Ai told him. "During that time period, it's probably going to get _a lot_ worse than it is now. You mentioned that he acted as if he couldn't taste anything earlier, correct?" When the Professor gave her a slight nod, she let out a long sigh, turning back to her research. "If my guess is correct, that's because he's _already_ lost his sense of taste. If this keeps up, the rest of his five senses will follow suit eventually. Once they're gone, there's no getting them back."

"Not only is he dying, he's apparently dying in the slowest, most horrible way I can think of." Ai said, narrowing her eyes. "If he's _lucky_ , his mind will start going, or he'll slip into a coma before his condition can get to the point where he's lost all five senses."

Sensing that the Professor was understandably stunned into speechlessness- that was the type of news nobody wanted to hear, Ai could only let another frustrated sigh escape her. "This whole condition is highly abnormal. There's something... there's something that I'm _missing_ here, some kind of vital clue, but for the life of me, I don't know what it is."

"Perhaps a quick break to get something to eat would do you good, Ai-kun." Agasa said finally, finally able to find where his words went. "It will allow you to come back to your research with a slightly fresh brain."

"You might be right." Ai told him after a moment, quickly finishing her tea, and getting to her feet. She wasn't the only one who was working to save Heiji, and a full stomach would serve her better than an empty one. "Thanks, Professor."

Getting to her feet, Ai headed upstairs, carefully preparing herself a quick sandwich using what they happened to have on hand. Grabbing a glass of water to wash it down with, she quickly set about to eating her lunch, trying to rest her thoughts for a moment. She was right when she said that it felt like there was something she knew was missing, but didn't know what- it almost felt as if there were something lingering in the back of her mind, some information that she knew, but couldn't quite recall.

Tapping her fingers on the table as she allowed herself to dwell on it as she chewed her food, Ai tried to sort through her thoughts. What was it exactly that she was missing? There obviously had to be _something_ within Heiji's DNA that was the trigger for this abnormal condition- and if she just knew what it was, maybe she could reverse the process, or at least begin to understand _why_ it was happening.

This would be easier, she thought, if she knew who is biological parents were, or at the very least, his medical records were complete.

As she thought that, the drumming of her fingers suddenly stopped, her brows furrowing slightly. Swallowing her current bite of sandwich and hurriedly downing it with some water, she quickly hurried back downstairs, leaving the professor to watch her curiously. She wasn't sure what it was that had sparked this line of thought, but she quickly slid back into the chair in front of her laptop, quickly bringing up what she knew to be a local Osakan paper.

Now that she thought about it, there was something, however faint, about fifteen years ago and Heiji's hometown of Osaka that tugged at her memory. She'd only been four herself at the time, so it certainly wasn't something she recalled reading about in the papers herself, but it may have very well been something that she'd heard after the fact. Given that the Hattoris had no knowledge of their son's biological parents, it wasn't impossible that Hattori Heizo had come to be associated with him in matters related to police work, and if that was the case, then there should be _some_ kind of record...

"Ah." Realizing that she'd found a hit, Ai pulled up the article in question, quickly scanning it. "Police called to the site of an explosion." She read out loud, her eyes narrowing as they ran through the fifteen year old newspaper article. "A research laboratory on the outskirts of Osaka exploded, and police findings suggest that the explosion was caused by an accident. No survivors were found, a police detective told reporters. The head researcher at the laboratory was said to be..."

Ai paused, lingering over the name of the man in charge, before she swallowed, quickly typing the name into a search engine. She was certain that she knew this name, and she was almost certain she'd heard of this event before- it had been something that had been mentioned at least once during her Organization days. A brilliant researcher whom the Organization hoped to recruit, but he'd disappeared before they could make contact with him, assumed dead after his lab suddenly exploded.

She definitely remembered something like that.

And as her finger lingered over the mouse button, Ai found herself having to take a moment. Because she certainly hadn't expected the researcher in question to resemble Heiji _that much_.

* * *

"Kawaguchi Souma."

It was a name that he had briefly become familiar with, although the investigation into the researcher had come from a time before he'd joined the FBI himself. As Okiya Subaru, no, it was Akai Shuichi at the moment, as he was currently wearing his own face- carefully browsed through the publicly available information on the man, which wasn't much, he was finally able to put to rest why that young boy's face bothered him so much.

At thirty seven years of age, Kawaguchi Souma, once heralded as a brilliant researcher and a medical genius, had been ejected from the scientific community as a whole after his research began to go down what they considered to be an unethical, immoral path. He was also a man who had caught the eye of the Black Organization, he recalled that much from his time undercover, the leader of the Organization at the time having expressed desire to recruit him. That too, had been before Shuichi's time with them- fifteen years ago, in fact.

After vanishing from the scientific community for ten years, Kawaguchi Souma's name only emerged once- when a laboratory belonging to him had exploded due to accidental circumstances, leaving behind no survivors, and no trace of what he'd been researching. It was believed that Kawaguchi Souma had died in the incident, although his body could never be identified. Were he still alive, he'd be nearing seventy years old by now, Shuichi thought. The police had concluded that it was simply an accident- the product of faulty wiring and a combination of deadly circumstances that couldn't be avoided. Glancing at the name of the police detective in charge of the case, Shuichi's eyes narrowed slightly, unable to help but forge another connection.

Hattori Heizo. The man who was currently at the top of Osaka's Prefectural police, and the father of the famous high school detective, Hattori Heiji.

The last published photograph of Kawaguchi Souma was from before he'd been exiled from the scientific community, when he was still a relatively young man of thirty seven years of age. And it was that face that had stirred Shuichi's memory- a man twenty years Hattori Heiji's senior, yet who bore a striking resemblance to him- there was no doubt that the two of them were related somehow.

And when he recalled exactly _what_ kind of research it was that had caused the FBI to begin looking into the man in the first place, he had very little doubt that what was currently ailing the one known as the high school detective of the west was almost directly related to it.

If it had been a passing interest before, then Akai Shuichi now found himself _very_ invested in discovering _exactly_ what was going on here.


	4. Theory

AN: Chapter four is here, hot off the presses! And with it, comes some revelations! Did you guess right? Things are going to heat up from here on out, so let's go! As always, I thank you all for reading, and I hope you enjoy! Please leave a review if you could be so kind!

* * *

 **Collapse**

 **Chapter Four**

 **Theory**

* * *

"How long ya been here, Kazuha?"

At the sound of Heiji's voice, Kazuha glanced up from her book, a smile spreading across her face as she set it aside. Ran had brought her a bundle of novels, hoping to give her something to kill time with, so that she wouldn't be alone with nothing but her worries. Kazuha was grateful for it, really. Ran was doing everything that she could for her, doubtlessly thinking of what it would be like if she were in her shoes right now, and it was Shinichi who was the one bound to the hospital bed, a death sentence lingering over his head for reasons that no one understood.

"Fer awhile now." Kazuha told him, brushing aside a stray strand of her hair as she moved her chair so that she could be closer to him. Reaching out, she placed her hand over his own, relaxing as she felt it's warmth. "Did I wake ya up, Heiji?"

"Nah. I just got tired of sleepin', I guess." Heiji told her, somehow still managing that easy grin of his even now. His fingers closed over Kazuha's own, his grip weaker than it should have been- but nevertheless still there. "Where's everyone else?"

"Yer parents are speakin' with the doctors." Kazuha told him, glancing back at the door. "An' Conan-kun said that there was somethin' he needed to see his friend Ai fer. Ran-chan is gettin' some drinks. So right now, it's just us."

"I don't suppose this qualifies as a date, does it?" Heiji asked her, his tone playful in spite of the steady beeping of the monitors around them. "Sorry, Kazuha. I finally managed ta spit everythin' out ta ya, an' I can't even take ya anywhere nice. Some boyfriend I am."

"Idiot, don't worry about somethin' like that." Kazuha said, leaning down to give him a light kiss on his forehead, having to make do with that, given the oxygen mask that prevented access to his lips. She didn't want to risk taking it off, knowing that he needed it to help him breathe properly. "Just concentrate on gettin' better, an' then ya can think about takin' me out on some dates."

"I'll do my best." Heiji promised her, reaching up his free hand, carefully stroking her hair. The charm that she had wrapped around it was still there, he'd seen no reason to remove it himself, and the doctors didn't seem to mind it much. For once, he'd wear it without compliant. If there really was any luck stored within that thing, then quite frankly, he could use it. "That much I _can_ promise ya, Kazuha."

"I know." Taking his hand in her own, Kazuha slowly lowered it down so that it rested on her cheek, closing her eyes as she held it there. "I love ya a lot, Heiji. Ya know that right?"

"Well I do _now_." Heiji told her, managing another quick grin. "Listen, nobody said that I was a great detective of romance. That's really not my kind of thing."

"I've gathered that much." Kazuha said lightly, unable to help but laugh, the light sound of it filling the room, for a moment drowning out the ominous beeping of the monitors. "Fer someone so smart, ya can be an awful big idiot at times, Heiji. Well, that's part of what I like about ya, though, even though it's a little frustratin'."

"I'm glad ta hear that." Lowering his hand, letting it slip from Kazuha's own, unable to hold it up for any longer, Heiji rested it back by his side again. "I love ya too, Kazuha. A whole lot. So much so I'm amazed it took me so long ta realize it in the first place."

"I'll pull through this, Kazuha." Heiji promised her, briefly closing his eyes, only to open them back up again once he realized that doing so brought the threat of sleep right back. He'd just woken up, he wasn't ready to fall asleep just yet- he'd like to spend some time with Kazuha, however less than ideal the circumstances were right now. There was also the more minor fact that he'd like to avoid the strange dreams that he'd been starting to have lately- the ones he didn't quite understand. "I won't die on ya."

 _And even if I do, I still won't leave your side._

But that was a thought that he didn't give voice to. It was better that he didn't. Because even as he promised her that he'd fight this with everything that he had in him, he didn't miss the warning signs that his body was sending him. It was slight, held off by the efforts of the doctors, but there was no mistake- he was gradually starting to get worse.

And it hadn't even been a day.

For once, Heiji almost half found himself hoping that things like ghosts were really real.

* * *

"Did you figure something out, Haibara?"

He'd all but sprinted to the Professor's place once he'd gotten the phone call that he'd been waiting for from Ai, telling him to come over right away. While he didn't like the idea of leaving Heiji's side for very long, Conan also knew that Ai wouldn't call him for anything that _wasn't_ important. He'd been able to slip away on an excuse without drawing too much attention to himself, and he'd quickly made his way back to the Professor's place, where Ai was waiting for him, a somewhat grim expression on her face. One that he didn't quite like.

But there was also a glint of knowledge in her eyes that hadn't been there before, and he could only hope that whatever it was, it would be promising. She knew _something_ now, that much he could deduce- even if he didn't like the tight way her lips were set, nor the furrow of her brow. It very well might be that this something was just more bad news, he thought to himself, feeling that sense of dread that had been growing steadily inside of him since the first time he'd heard Heiji cough, grow all the more.

"In a sense." Ai said simply. "Take a seat, Kudo-kun. I highly advise doing so, in fact." She told him. Doing just that, taking the seat opposite of the girl, he found himself glancing around her makeshift lab, able to tell right away that she'd been busy at work ever since he'd last seen her several hours ago.

"You sounded like there was something important that you needed to tell me when you called." Conan told her, finally turning his full attention back towards the shrunken scientist, taking notice of the manilla folder that she held within her hands. "Did you come up with some results? Did you figure out what's happening to Hattori?"

"I _do_ have a theory." Ai said after a moment, her voice almost hesitant. "I don't quite have any solid proof of said theory yet, though I believe I know how we could go about getting some. I _do_ , however, want you to hear me out, Kudo-kun, because if I'm right, Hattori-kun's in an even worse situation than we ever could have imagined. We're running on _very_ limited time here- a month, if we're lucky, and he lasts that long."

 _Ah_. That explained her rather grim expression, Conan thought, his eyes narrowing. Hearing that Heiji had about a month to live was hard to swallow, but swallow it he would. As much as her words caused that heavy feeling in his gut to twist, he nevertheless knew that he had to hear her out. Nobody ever said that this was going to be an easy path- and Heiji was right- at the very least, he wasn't the one doing the dying. So he would take whatever it was that he needed to hear, no matter how difficult it was, if it meant finding a path to save his friend's life. "Let's hear it then, Haibara. This theory of yours."

"First of all, I'd like you to look at this, Kudo-kun." Ai told him, reaching into her manilla folder and pulling out the photograph that she'd printed out. Photographs of Kawaguchi Souma were hard to come by- in fact, this photo was about all she could find, and it was one that was any number of years out of date- provided that the researcher in question _had_ survived the accident that had destroyed his lab in the first place.

He'd been thirty seven years old when the photograph in question had been taken- if he were still alive today, he'd be nearing his seventies, Ai mentally noted, as she watched Conan take the photograph from her. At the visible shock that drew across his expression, she knew that she had more than caught his interest. She also watched as thoughts raced through his head, leading him to the wrong conclusion- if not an understandable one, given their own circumstances.

"Haibara, what exactly is this photograph?" Conan asked, half not believing what he was looking at. If he didn't know any better, he would have guessed that he was looking at a picture of Heiji from twenty years in the future- the resemblance that he bore to the man in the photograph was too strong to be any kind of coincidence. That same dark colored skin, the same color of hair, those same blue eyes, right down to the long eyelashes and the thick eyebrows- it was all there. "You're not actually trying to say that Hattori's...?"

"Yes and _no_ , Kudo-kun." Ai said, predicting what his question was, and cutting him off before he could finish it. "That man is a researcher by the name of Kawaguchi Souma. He was a brilliant researcher who worked chiefly in the fields of genetics and biology, to the point that even the Organization once had their attention turned towards him. Of course, this happened when I was still a child, so all of this is secondhand knowledge- and _let me_ _finish_ , Kudo-kun, I can sense that there's a number of questions you want to ask me, but I will hopefully explain everything in due time, provided you just _let me talk_."

Quickly shutting his mouth again, Conan gave the girl a slow nod, watching as she set down the manilla folder in her lap, opening it up. "When he was thirty seven years old, around the time that photograph was taken, Kawaguchi-san was expelled from the scientific community at large. They claimed that his current research was unethical and immoral, and withdrew all funding from him. After that, he vanished for ten years, until he turned up back here, in Japan."

"In Osaka, to be exact." Ai told him, turning the folder over towards him, placing it in his lap. She'd printed out all the articles she could find in regards to the laboratory explosion, highlighting any number of things within them. "Just before the Organization could make contact with him, the lab he was working from exploded. The police concluded that it was an accident, but also declared the scene a total loss. There were no survivors, not to anyone's knowledge, at least. And the officer in charge of that investigation was-"

"Hattori Heizo." Conan quickly supplied, swallowing more than a little.

"I told you to let me finish, Kudo-kun, but yes." Ai told him, folding her hands in her lap. "It was. It was several months after that accident that Hattori Heizo and Hattori Shizuka began the paperwork to adopt their son, a three year old boy with no pre-existing records. Before they added Hattori-kun to their family register, there wasn't even a single trace of his existence."

"What's even _more_ interesting than that is that when I went looking deeper into his medical history, I came to find that when he first started living with the Hattori family, prior to his adoption, it appears that he had no memories." Ai told him. She had made a lot of phone calls chasing this lead, borrowing one of the Professor's voice changers for the sole purpose of this. "I'm not just speaking about _personal_ memories here, Kudo-kun. He was already around three years old when he was found, and yet he still didn't know how to walk, talk, or even understand language- by all accounts he didn't know how to do _anything_."

"The _good_ news is that the ruins of the lab still exist, and are fairly easy to access." Briefly switching topics, Ai turned back to her laptop, swiveling her chair so that she could face it, bringing up a website run by a group of ruin explorers. "And it's safe enough for even middle school students to explore without running into any troubles, so it's obvious that whatever ties the Organization hoped to forge with Kawaguchi-san, they were disregarded after it was thought that he had died. By train, it'll only take us an hour or so to get to Osaka to go check it out ourselves. Of course, we'll need the Professor to come with us so he can drive us there, but..."

"Wait a second, Haibara!" Conan spoke up again, looking up at her, trying to wrap his head around the facts that were all but being thrown out towards him. "You _said_ you were going to answer my question."

"Yes, I suppose I _did_ say that, didn't I." Ai mused, glancing back at him. "To answer your question, Kudo-kun, I will repeat what I said before. Yes and no. Kawaguchi Souma's name did _not_ show up on the list of Apotoxin victims, since I'm _certain_ that's where your first thoughts went, so _no_ , Hattori-kun and Kawaguchi-san are not one and the same. At the very least, that's incredibly unlikely."

"However, the answer is also _yes_. Kawaguchi Souma and Hattori Heiji are unlikely to be one and the same- except on a genetic level." Ai told him, fully turning her chair back around so that she could face him head on, watching as his expression shifted at her words. "You never asked me what Kawaguchi-san's research was about."

"I think I can take a guess. But humor me anyways, Haibara." Conan said slowly, his thoughts frankly still reeling. Yes, _technically_ , such a thing might actually be possible, it had been proven with animals any number of times, but could it really be that...?

"Human cloning." Ai said simply, closing her eyes. "Namely using cloning as a way to achieve technical immortality. That was the research that he was expelled from the scientific world for. In other words, Kudo-kun, _no_ , Hattori-kun isn't Kawaguchi Souma himself. But yes, in all likelihood, he may very well be his _clone_."

There was silence in the lab for the longest of moments, Conan feeling the gears in his head grinding away, trying to process all of this. His first instinct was to try and deny that such a thing could be possible- but he was _also_ supposed to be seventeen years old right now, not seven. If shrinking humans were possible, then why not cloning them? If anything the latter seemed more feasible than the former.

"Hattori's a clone." Conan finally spoke, rubbing his forehead. He wasn't certain what he'd expected Ai to tell him, but it certainly hadn't been _that_. Out of all the millions of possibilities that he'd been churning through his head, that had not been one of them. It sounded so absurd, so out there that if Ai wasn't half as serious as she was, he would have thought it was some kind of tasteless joke. "A _clone_ , Haibara?"

"I'm quite serious. Besides, I don't think we're at the liberty to call such a thing absurd ourselves." Ai told him, folding her arms in front of her chest. "It certainly would serve to explain the fact that his body is currently starting to deteriorate out of seemingly nowhere. He likely wasn't made to last this long to begin with, not without assistance, if I had to hazard a guess. Fifteen years appears to be his limit. His body simply can't keep up anymore."

"That... doesn't sound very optimistic, Haibara." Conan admitted after a moment. "You're making it sound like this is a done deal already."

"I didn't say that." Ai told him, heaving a long sigh. "At the very least, I think it might be possible for me to create some kind of stabilizing agent that would prevent the continued breakdown of Hattori-kun's body. But even that would be a temporary measure at best. It would be one thing if I had any of Kawaguchi-san's research notes, which is why I think it would be the best idea if we went to check out the ruins of his lab ourselves. There's still a chance there might be something left, even after all this time."

"But you could still create it, right, even without them? This stabilizing agent." Conan asked.

"I could." With a curt nod of her head, Ai watched as a look of relief crossed Conan's face. "I _did_ only say that would be a temporary measure, Kudo-kun. Hattori-kun would require daily injections for the rest of his life, and his ability to live a normal life wouldn't necessarily be returned to him even with that. At worst, he might be confined to a hospital for the rest of his life, and even in the best case scenario, he'd still be incredibly weak. According to what you've told me, he's already lost his sense of taste, and that's not something I'd be able to bring back either."

That admittedly was not what Conan wanted to hear. "So it would keep him alive, but that's all?" He asked.

"That's all." Ai told him. "Whatever kind of stopgap measures I try and implement, it wouldn't change the fact that Hattori-kun's body most likely wasn't meant to last very long in the first place. I can't say for certain without seeing any of the research data myself, but just based on what I've been able to determine here in my own lab, it appears to be a fundamental problem with his body to begin with. In order to combat it, I'd probably have to go so far as to restructure his entire genetic code completely. Given my current tools, something like that would be impossible. It's also possible that any such attempts might just actually worsen his condition, if anything."

"That's not... that's not _fair_." For once, Conan felt every bit the child that he looked, bemoaning the unfairness of the world around him. But that was how this entire situation felt- if what Ai was saying was really true, then there was no easy way out of this for Heiji. What had his friend done so wrong that he deserved to go through something like this? "There has to be something we can do."

"And like I said, there may very well be. But I _need_ that research data, and the only place I know to start looking for it is in the place this all began." Ai told him. "Well, granted, it's also still possible my theory could be off base, and that there's another explanation behind all of this, but I don't think I'm mistaken."

After a long moment, Conan let out a deep breath, trying to focus his thoughts on the here and now. Okay- alright. Searching for research data was something he actually would be able to do, and that was far less frustrating than just sitting around and waiting for Heiji to die. "What about their fingerprints, Haibara?" Conan asked after a moment. "If Hattori's really some kind of... some kind of clone, then their fingerprints should match exactly. It's possible that Kawaguchi-san's fingerprints might be registered in the police database."

"Are you asking me to hack into the police database?" Ai asked, casting him a skeptical look. "The Professor would probably be better at that than me. Why don't you just ask your friends in the FBI though? He was being investigated by them for awhile before he disappeared all those years ago. They might know something."

"Eh, is that true?" Blinking rapidly, Conan looked up at her. Suddenly unable to help but recall the way that Subaru had shown up at the hospital, he narrowed his eyes, wondering if there had been something more behind that. But if the lab had exploded fifteen years ago, and Kawaguchi Souma had vanished ten years before that, then it would have happened over twenty-five years ago- long before the investigator joined the FBI.

Still, that didn't mean that he might have encountered the case somewhere, especially if the Black Organization had once been interested in the researcher. He was certain that he'd gotten a pretty good look at Heiji's face when he had been pulled out of the Professor's place on the stretcher. If he really did know anything about this case, he doubted that someone like Subaru wouldn't have already made the link himself, especially if it managed to catch his curiosity.

Would it just be better to go and confront him, then? But if it really hadn't raised any flags with him yet, then Conan didn't want to be the one to do it himself. Granted, it wasn't like he didn't think he couldn't trust Subaru with this information, but... if what Ai was saying was true, and Heiji really was some kind of clone, then wasn't that technically illegal?

No, wait... Did Japan even have laws against human cloning in the first place? He'd memorized countless passages of legal codes, but that had never been something he'd ever thought to look into in the first place. But Subaru was linked to the FBI, and if he recalled correctly, while it wasn't formally banned in America as a whole, it _was_ against the law in any number of states.

If it was even true at all. One way or another, the fingerprints would confirm it. A DNA test would confirm it as well, he supposed, but something like that might be even harder to obtain. It would be easier if the researcher in question was still alive- and at that thought, he paused a little, frowning deeply.

"Did Kawaguchi-san _really_ die in the accident, though?" Conan asked her.

"I can't say for sure." Ai said, shaking her head. "Nobody has ever seen him since, so it's not impossible that he did. If he really was alive though, one would think he would take notice of Hattori-kun's existence after awhile, considering that he has a tendency to show up in the papers. But it's also possible that he fled Japan since then, and thus wouldn't know what's going on in Japanese news."

"That's true. If your theory really is true, there's _no way_ he wouldn't recognize Hattori." Conan mused, folding his arms in front of his chest. It would have very much been like looking at a photo of your younger self in the papers. Speaking of his friend, exactly what was he going to tell him about all of this? That not only was he not related to his parents at all, but he was also a _clone_? How would he take that kind of news?

Probably remarkably well, Conan couldn't help but think. Heiji was nothing if not resilient and adaptable. He'd accepted the idea of humans shrinking without even so much as batting an eye. Still, there was no point in telling him anything as long as it remained just a theory. One way or another, they had to confirm it- Heiji's life was on the line here, after all.

And after a long moment of consideration, he finally came to a conclusion. If they couldn't find anything concrete at the lab, then they needed someone reliable on their side who could help them figure out the fate of Kawaguchi Souma himself. If he really was alive, Conan didn't doubt that he carried his research with him- research that could save Heiji's life. "If we need someone to get us to the lab, I might know someone who could help."

* * *

From the way that Subaru had agreed to help without so much as asking any questions, Conan got the feeling that he knew something. It was written in that slight smile of his, that just as he thought, the FBI investigator had started looking into the matter himself. In spite of the fact that he likely realized Conan was now following the same lead, he didn't mention anything to him. Perhaps it was just so that he wouldn't rouse the suspicion of Ai, who was casting a suspicious look at him out of the corner of her eye, purposefully making sure that Conan sat between the two of them on the train.

He had expected that she'd protest when he told her the person he had in mind was Okiya Subaru, and it appeared that he was right. Whatever trust that he might have gained from her seemed to have faded after the whole mystery train business- which quite frankly, was a pain. While it would be simple enough to tell Ai that he was an FBI agent that he'd arranged to keep an eye on her and ensure her safety, the less people who knew that Subaru had any involvement with the FBI the better- and likewise, he didn't think Ai would quite appreciate the fact that he'd basically more or less hired someone to keep tabs on her.

Well, whatever the case, that wasn't a concern to him right now. Finding out the truth in regards to his friend was what was now most important- and they were running on limited time as it was. He couldn't help but find himself wishing that the train could run even faster, and he could only hope that it would be easy to rent a car when they got there. Catching a taxi wasn't impossible, but it was probably wiser and safer if other people didn't know where they were going.

At the very least, Ai had seemed convinced that the ruins themselves were safe enough to explore. That was probably true- even the Organization wasn't going to keep tabs on the destroyed remains of the lab of a man who might very well be dead fifteen years after the fact, especially since they hadn't even been able to recruit him in the first place. And even if they _were_ , they'd be looking for Kawaguchi Souma himself- not a pair of curious kids and the irresponsible adult bringing them ruin exploring.

Briefly sparing a glance over towards Subaru, he narrowed his eyes somewhat. The only reason that he'd wanted to prevent Heiji and Subaru from meeting in the first place was to prevent Heiji from realizing that there was something going on with the Organization that he wasn't telling him, but it appeared as if his instincts had been more spot on than he realized. Still, at the same time, if Ai's theory had been true, and the two of them had met earlier- maybe his uncanny resemblance to the researcher who had been investigated by the FBI in the past would have caught his interest earlier.

If they had any idea that something like this might happen earlier, would it have been possible to prevent it from happening entirely? No, somehow Conan didn't think so- but at the very least, it would have given them more time to prepare.

A _clone_. Frankly, he was still having trouble wrapping his head around the idea. Maybe once they saw the lab itself, or whatever was left of it- a good portion of the outer facade, judging from the photos that had been posted on the website of that ruin explorers club, then he would be able to come to terms with the idea a little bit better. It sounded like something straight out of a science fiction novel.

But then again, so did shrinking humans. Ai was right, he really _wasn't_ in any place where he could call the idea absurd. And it would definitely go a long way to explain the uncanny resemblance between Heiji and that researcher. Certainly, it wasn't impossible that they were simply biological father and son- but even if there were children who looked like miniature versions of their parents, they normally didn't resemble each other _that_ closely. Provided that Heiji survived this ordeal, he couldn't help but feel like he'd been given an unusual amount of insight into exactly what Heiji would look like when he was older.

But if Heizo really was the one who was called to the site of explosion, did he know something? It had to be around there that he found Heiji in the first place, if Ai's theory really was true. A man as quick-witted as Heizo would be unlikely to miss something like this, all the more so if he had investigated the place himself. Even if most of the traces had been destroyed, it wasn't as if it were uncommon knowledge that Kawaguchi Souma was interested in human cloning. Granted, your average person might have not known about it, but it was doubtful that it _wouldn't_ have come up during the course of the police investigation. If that was the case, why hadn't he mentioned anything to the doctors?

Alright, maybe that was a stupid question. Thinking about it logically, there's no way you could just tell a normal doctor that there was a chance that his adopted son might actually be an _artificially created clone_. If anything, if the doctors knew something like that were true, they might actually become more interested in making Heiji a lab rat, rather than treating him as a patient whose life needed to be saved- not to mention the firestorm that would erupt if word leaked out to the media.

Rather than help him, the knowledge that Heiji might not be a normal person might actually sign his death sentence.

Hattori Heizo, Conan thought to himself, was without a doubt smart enough to realize that much- provided that he knew- or at the very least, had some idea.

"Isn't this our stop, Conan-kun?"

Breaking out of his thoughts at the sound of Subaru's voice, Conan realized that indeed, he was right. "Y-yeah! Let's go, Subaru-san!"

"Yes." Ai's tone was dry, as the girl didn't even attempt to mask the decidedly unchildlike look of distrust on her face. " _Let's_."

* * *

The first time he'd ever spoken, it was to call him dad.

It was ironic, given how he'd come to calling him 'old man' in his more recent years. It had been quite some time since he remembered hearing Heiji actually call him father, at least not when he knew Heizo was in earshot. But even if he struggled to remember when the last time was that he had been called father by his stubborn, impulsive son, he could still remember the first time as vividly as if it had been yesterday.

At the time, they weren't certain if he'd _ever_ learn to talk, which, all things considered was actually pretty ironic as well, as the problem now was getting Heiji to _stop_ talking sometimes. Right from the start, he'd been a rather bright boy- even though he knew seemingly nothing about the world around him, he quickly managed to learn, just by watching people and imitating what they did.

When they first found him, they had assumed that he simply couldn't understand Japanese. However, it quickly became apparent that the truth was far more dire than that- he simply couldn't understand words to begin with, much less speak them on his own. Nothing they said made any sense to the child, probably coming across as nothing more than garbled nonsense. And yet, for all that, Heizo had found that tiny hand of his reaching out, grabbing at his pants, as if silently asking the man not to leave him behind.

Perhaps it was just because Heizo had been the first one to find the boy in question that he'd attached himself to him. Surely if it had been someone else, he would have latched onto them just as much. Even so, even if he was never the type to admit it in so many words, having never been the type, Heizo was glad that it had been him. It had been an encounter that brought something into their lives that they were starting to think they might never have- a child of their own.

It had always been more of Shizuka's desire than his own. She wanted a house full of children running around, their voices loudly echoing through the house. And Heizo was more than happy to oblige. However, as they quickly came to learn, such a thing might have very well been impossible for them. It had been not long after Shizuka had lost their second child that the young boy that they would eventually call their own had came into their lives.

At the time, the doctors and the psychologists that had examined him had determined that the reason behind his apparent lack of memories- both personal and procedural, was due to a serious case of amnesia. One of the worst they'd ever seen, in fact. It was an explanation that had never sat well with Heizo, as he watched the curious three old boy puzzle out how to do even the simplest of tasks- like walking. If he didn't know any better, it was as if he'd never taken a single step in his life before. He'd had to carry him around quite a bit in those first few weeks before he found his feet- not that it was hard. At the time, he'd been quite light.

But before he knew it, Heiji had learned to run. Perhaps it would have been better if he hadn't since his son quickly grew up to be the type to run straight into danger, heedless of personal risk. He'd already come too close to death for Heizo's tastes any number of times before this exactly because of that. As Heiji grew older, the memories of his strange beginnings seemed to slip away from him, as all such early childhood memories tended to do. Looking at him as he was now, as a confident, clever, talkative teenage detective, it was hard to imagine that there had been a time when he was anything but.

Until now, at least. His son had once more drifted off to sleep, and Heizo couldn't help but note that even _with_ the oxygen mask, his breathing seemed to be somewhat unsteady. Something had changed within the past few hours alone. With his son lingering between life and death, he couldn't help but recall the circumstances under which he'd first found him in the first place- circumstances which he had tried to make himself forget, not wanting Heiji to pick up on them as he grew older, and grew more perceptive. The older he got, the more imperative Heizo and Shizuka alike felt it was that he never learned that he was anything unlike other children- the more important it had become to them that he never realized his own strange beginnings.

 _"There's a child here, sir."_

Those had been the words that had started everything, thinking back on it, spoken by a befuddled sounding crime scene investigator. When Heizo had gone over to see for himself, he'd realized that the man was right. In the middle of the ruins of the lab, hidden away in a room that had remained largely unscathed, was a single child, who appeared to be soundly sleeping. When he'd opened those eyes for the first time, blue eyes staring out into the world before him, one of the first things he'd seen was Heizo's form, crouching over him.

The child had reached out a hand- and without thinking about it, Heizo had taken it, trying to haul him to his feet as gently as possible. He'd stood on his own two feet for the span of three seconds- before his legs wavered, and he slumped to his knees. But he'd never let go of his hand, although his grip was weak.

Just as weak as it was now, Heizo thought.

Hattori Heizo was no fool. He knew full well that whatever was happening to his son now had _everything_ to do with where they had found him. He'd done no shortage of research on Kawaguchi Souma- and he didn't miss the way that the older his son got, the more he started to look like him. It was uncanny, really. While it could have simply been the fact that the researcher could have simply been his biological father, all of Heizo's instincts told him otherwise.

But even with that knowledge, he knew that there was almost nothing that he could do save but depend on the doctors, who even now, scurried about, running any number of tests. Short of tracking down the elusive man himself, that is, who might very well have died in that explosion. He'd scoured that place top to bottom back when he had been put on the case, and he'd found nothing- no trace of anything indicating what it was that was being studied there, or what it was that had been going on in the lab. There was nothing left but ruins and corpses- aside from the one boy, whose existence was a well kept secret amongst the police, there had been no other survivors.

In time, even the fellow members of the police seemed to gradually forget that the hotblooded teen who would often force his way into their crime scenes had been first discovered at one himself. To think that such a child had ended up with a burning desire inside of him to become a detective- perhaps it was an inevitable fate that he would.

The one _other_ thing that hadn't been leaked to the media, even after all this time, was that a number of the corpses that had been found were those of young children. And from what little remained of them, the police had been able to take DNA samples, hoping to identify them, to find out how they had gotten there, and where their parents might have been- perhaps they were related to the numerous adult corpses that had been found at the scene.

What they found instead, however, was the fact that each and every one of them possessed exactly the same genetic code, without fail. A genetic code that matched _exactly_ with the one surviving child that they had found at the scene- the one who would later grow up to become praised as the high school detective of the west, all the while perfectly unwitting that the biggest mystery in his life lay immediately behind him.

The one that Heizo would eventually come to call his son.

* * *

When Edogawa Conan had come knocking on his door, asking if Subaru would like to escort Ai and himself to Osaka so that they could check out some ruins, he already knew why he was asking. In fact, he had just about been ready to head out to said ruins in the first place, when he'd crossed paths with the bespectacled young boy. It didn't surprise him in the least, knowing what he knew about him- it would appear that in his search for answers, he'd uncovered the same things that Subaru had himself.

He had already made a phone call to Jodie, asking if she would dig up the records that they had on Kawaguchi Souma- dropping a mention that the was _very_ interested if they had anything like his fingerprints on record. She hadn't gotten back to him yet, but he knew that digging up twenty-five year old case material wasn't the easiest of things.

Given that someone's life hung in the balance, Subaru was more than happy to agree to escort them. To get to the lab, they would need someone who could drive, after all, and it wasn't like two seven year old children- or what _looked_ like two seven year old children- could just take a taxi to a bunch of ruins.

And from the way that Conan had been silent the entire train ride, wearing the same look that he wore when he was trying to untangle the threads of a mystery, Subaru knew that he was puzzling out this mysterious thing himself. Given how well he knew the one who all of this was tied to, it must have been quite the challenge to wrap his head around what the most likely theory was behind everything. Even Subaru had to admit that it gave him pause.

And that was why he was going to the lab in the first place- or what was left of it, at the very least. It was very much for the same reasons that Subaru was, though Conan's reasons likely ran even deeper. They had to go, even though it was unlikely that there would be much there, especially fifteen years after the fact. It was the need to see it for himself, the need to go over the place himself, just in case, just in the event that something had been missed, that some stone had been unturned. That there might be answers hidden in the place that would allow the young boy to save his friend's life.

He was a detective- so he wanted proof. As did Subaru himself, really- if Kawaguchi Souma really _had_ been successful in creating a human clone, then it was hardly something that he could ignore. Especially when the possibility was factored in that the researcher might have very well survived the explosion, and had simply vanished without a trace once more. It wasn't hard to imagine that he would be capable of it- after all, he had been here for any number of years without anyone noticing him before the accident had brought his existence to the forefront.

Seeing the lab in person would also help clarify some of the things that Osakan police had doubtlessly covered up. He was certain that they had- if only to prevent a media frenzy. The story was heavily covered as it was already, if word got out about what might have actually been going on in that place, what would have started as a faint buzz would have turned into a virtual firestorm.

It would have been all the more important if there really _was_ one survivor that needed to be protected from that. All the more so if that survivor had just been a child at the time.

"Isn't that it?" Conan's voice caught his attention, and Subaru glanced out the window, following where the boy was pointing. Rising out into the distance were the ruins have the destroyed lab, left very much the way they had been found fifteen years ago. A fence had been thrown up around them, but more than likely there was a way inside, given that a quick Internet search proved that it was a popular location for ruin explorers.

"You're right, Conan-kun." Subaru noted, carefully turning the car off the road and finding a discrete place to park it where it couldn't be seen. "This appears to be the place."

Narrowing his eyes, Conan wasted no time in getting out of the car, slamming the door shut behind him. Maybe it was just because of his own small size, but it almost seemed as if the charred, blackened remains of the research laboratory loomed ominously against the sky, the setting sun cast behind it creating the impression of flames licking against the building.

The same kind of flames that had brought everything to ruin in the first place.

It gave him a bad feeling.


	5. Unethical Research

**AN** : Sorry for the wait, but here's chapter five! I actually scrapped a part of the original version of this chapter and rewrote it- which was for the best really, I wasn't really satisfied with the original version. Hot writing tips, my friends! Sometimes you just have to be willing to ditch a bunch of work if it doesn't feel right, even though that sucks. Anyways, thanks for reading! Don't forget to leave a review if you can!

And also just as a reminder, I'll be on vacation from the 12th to the 15th so I _probably_ won't be updating any fics during that time period.

* * *

 **Collapse**

 **Chapter Five**

 **Unethical Research**

* * *

For once, his labored breathing had nothing to do with whatever was ailing him, though it surely didn't help- and everything to do with the strange dream that he'd just woken up from. Taking a moment to try and place where he was, staring up at the unfamiliar ceiling, listening to the sound of beeping echoing just outside of his awareness, Heiji carefully tried to get his breathing back to normal. Slowly recalling why he was having trouble doing that, where he was, and how he had found himself here, he let out a small sigh, turning his head slightly so that he could look at the clock that had been left on his bedside table.

It was already eight. When he'd fallen asleep last, it had been two in the afternoon. It felt like all he was doing lately was sleeping- though granted, it wasn't like he had the energy for much else. Perhaps it was for the best, in it's own strange way- he barely even had the energy to get bored, to chafe at his practically bed bound state. Just sitting up was exhausting, as much as he hated to admit it.

"Heiji?"

His mother's voice caught his attention and he let his gaze drift towards where it had come from. Doing his best to give her a smile, he reached out a hand to her, letting it hover somewhat limply in the air, inwardly grimacing as he realized this. "I didn't see ya there, mom. I hope I haven't been keeping ya waitin' long."

Come to think of it, he thought, as his mother carefully joined him by the side of his bed, taking the hand that he had offered to her in her own, he actually hadn't had any alone time with _either_ of his parents ever since he'd been hospitalized. At least not while he had been _awake_. It would be going on two days soon enough, he grimly thought to himself, gripping his mother's hand as well as he could.

"I just got back from dinner myself." Shizuka told him, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly at the weak way her son held her hand. There were bags underneath her eyes, and Heiji wished that he could give her half of the sleep that he'd been getting recently- she looked like she needed it. They _all_ did, really- even his father, though he was better at hiding it. "How are you feeling?"

"Well, m'not dead yet." Heiji observed, giving her what he hoped was a joking grin- only to quickly come to regret his choice of words, feeling her grip tighten on his hand, a bolt of fear flashing through her eyes. "It was just a joke, a joke. Sorry, mom. I didn't mean ta upset ya."

"That's not something to joke about, Heiji." Shizuka said softly, the faintest hint of a stern tone to her voice. If the doctors had figured anything out, they certainly hadn't told _her_ anything yet. Death still loomed over her son as a very real possibility, and that was something that her heart simply could not bear, a storm which even she could not weather. "Please don't."

"...Sorry." Turning his head away from her after a moment, Heiji closed his eyes, letting in and taking out a long breath- as best as he could, that was. There was a slight raspy noise that came with drawing in a longer than normal breath- and he knew his mother had heard it, from the way that her grip on his hand flinched. "I really didn't mean ta upset ya, mom. I'm just tryin' ta deal with it in my own way."

He never thought it was going to happen to him like _this_. He'd always sort of imagined that if he was going to go out early, it would be with a bang- and not with a whimper.

"I know you are, Heiji." Shizuka said slowly, eyes carefully falling on her son's form, watching the rise and fall of his chest, which wasn't as steady as she liked. "I'm here for you, you know. I _am_ your mother, after all." There was a hint of sadness to her smile as she spoke- perhaps if she had actually been his biological mother, they might already be on their way to figuring out what was happening to her son. Or rather, she suspected that it wouldn't be happening at all.

Slowly turning his head back towards her, Heiji carefully glanced up towards her face, carefully studying it in his own way. For a brief moment, one of the strange images that had haunted his dreams floated back into his mind- his mother, any number of years younger than now, carefully holding both of his hands, garbled nonsense coming out of her mouth as she seemed to encourage him to take a step forward, as if she was teaching him how to walk.

The strange thing was, he didn't seem to be a baby in his dreams- but rather a young child, one who should have already known how to do just that. It wasn't the only strange image that had been plaguing him lately- ever since he'd collapsed, he'd been haunted by these strange dreams, as if he was recalling something half forgotten. Things that made no sense.

People, faces that he knew, though younger, all speaking the same garbled nonsense to him. He couldn't comprehend what it was that they were trying to say to him in his dreams, as if he'd suddenly lost the ability to understand language. Perhaps it was merely _because_ they were dreams, but Heiji's instincts seemed to whisper otherwise.

Of the images that bubbled to the surface in his dreams, like phantoms, there were faces that he already knew. His father, carrying his much younger self around in his arms, his mother, her eyes wide as she took him carefully in her own, as if meeting him for the first time. Kazuha, as young as himself, peering curiously at him, puffing out her cheeks when she couldn't get him to do what she wanted him to do, making loud complaints of nonsense to which her father replied in equal nonsense, trying to calm her down somewhat. Other familiar faces that he knew- police officers he was familiar with from working with them, peering down at him, confusion written in their expressions.

And slightly further back, the faintest of all the images, was a face that looked far too much like his own. Older though, more worn and weathered, and expression drawn across it the likes of which he would probably never make himself. Cold and disdainful, displeasure clear in his tone even though he spoke the same garbled nonsense as anyone else. Garbled and distorted, as if heard through a filter, though it might be, Heiji would know the sound of his own voice from anywhere, the sound of it filling his ears as if he was listening to himself speak. There were other voices as well, indistinct faces that haunted his dreams. Cold and clinical, he couldn't help but feel as if he was some kind of lab rat.

There was one though, an octave above the rest, that was different. There was something softer, kinder to it- it felt warm in a way that was not dissimilar to his own mother's at times. A pair of warm hands growing colder, the sound of labored breathing.

But the most haunting thing, the most nightmare-like distortion were the other faces- the ones that matched his own too well, blank eyes, staring at nothing. Faces in which every trace, every echo were identical to that of his own, no tricks, no mirrors, no illusions involved.

Slowly realizing that he had gone silent for too long, sensing the worry in his mother's eyes, Heiji slowly flashed her a quick grin. "I know that much, of course! Ya don't need ta give me that kind of look, mom. Who do ya think I am? I'm Hattori Heiji, somethin' this small isn't goin' ta keep me down fer very long!"

"I suppose that's true." Allowing a smile to finally grace her features once more, Shizuka let got of his hand for only a moment, to pull up a chair next to him. Once she sat down, she carefully took her son's hand in her own once more, his dark skin such a stark contrast to her own pale tone. It was a wonder that he even bought the lie that he'd gotten it from his grandfather, never so much as questioning it. "Besides, now that you and Kazuha are dating, I intend to see grandchildren coming from the two of you one day."

At the bright red shade her son turned upon hearing her words, and the way he sputtered out a flustered reply, she couldn't help but allow a faint chuckle to escape her. It was enough for her to put out of her mind, for the moment, the way the slightest hint of doubt had flashed through her son's eyes, betraying his otherwise confident declaration.

"Heiji?" Shizuka spoke up once more, catching her son's attention- before she shook her head. No, now wasn't the time to trouble him with the truth of their blood ties. That would come later- and she hoped beyond hope that there would, in fact, _be_ a later. "No, it's nothing. Don't worry about it."

* * *

If there was one word he could use to describe this place, it was eerie. The exterior looked haunting enough, with it's blown out wall and crumbling remains, but actually going into the building quickly filled him with the belief that it wouldn't look at all out of place in a horror movie. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but envision Ran insisting that they leave this place at once, for fear that _something_ might come out, and honestly, he wouldn't be half surprised if this place had _some_ kind of ridiculous ghost story tied to it.

That wasn't what he was here for, though- he was here with one goal in mind. Investigation, trying to determine what it was this lab had once been used for. Trying to determine if this was _really_ the place where Heiji had come from. Even if he couldn't draw any solid conclusions from seeing the ruins himself, there were other avenues that he could use- namely, contacting the one person who _would_ know, Heiji's father, using Kudo Shinichi's voice. If he could convince Ai, he'd approach him with Kudo Shinichi's _face_ as well. He wouldn't tell anything to Edogawa Conan, but if the detective of the east showed up in person, then Heizo might be willing to speak.

Besides, if Kudo Shinichi didn't turn up at all while his best friend lay dying, it would leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth. It was gamble worth the risk, he thought.

But all the same, he felt as if he needed to see this place for himself, with his own eyes, to bring a sense of reality to the whole affair. How could he tell Heiji the truth, whatever that might turn out to be, if he half didn't believe it himself? And he _did_ feel that Heiji deserved to know the truth- the whole truth, and everything that it might entail. He was the one _dying_ , after all, and he had every right to know why his body was failing him.

Telling him that he'd simply just run out of time would not be easy, and he could only hope that they would uncover some kind of answer that would change that. Even if it was just to extend his life, that was valuable time they could use to look for something more concrete, a more viable way to keep him alive, and to above all, prevent him from suffering. He wasn't certain if he could force Heiji to live a life that involved just barely stringing him along, and he half wasn't even certain that would even be the right choice.

No, no. He was thinking too negatively again. That wouldn't do.

"What structure remains seems to be fairly stable." Subaru observed, carefully testing a surviving pair of stairs that lead upwards. "But I think it would still be for the best if we stayed together. It's hard to say what the upper floors will look like."

"You're probably right." Conan said with a firm nod of his head. It wouldn't do them any good if they got into some kind of an accident here. Wouldn't that just be his luck, though? After all the tough situations he'd lived through in the past, for a careless misstep in a crumbling building to be what sealed his fate. He might actually laugh.

They were armed with a pair of wristwatch flashlights, and one actual flashlight- mercifully, Subaru had thought to bring one with a rather wide beam of light, which was exceedingly helpful. As the sun began to set behind them, Conan half debated coming back in the morning to check the ruins over- it would be safer and easier to search them that way. They simply didn't have that kind of time though- neither did Heiji. Ai had told him that she had already begun to consider ways to create a stabilizing agent, but even that was something that would take time. Even as she walked alongside him, carefully shining her wristwatch flashlight in nooks and crannies, he didn't doubt that her brain was working away at a rapid fire pace, considering possibilities.

It would be great if they found something like that here, already made- but Conan had his doubts. He didn't think that Heizo would have left a single stone unturned in his investigation, judging from what he knew of the man. If there was already something like that, he probably would have known about it- it would probably be sitting in an evidence locker somewhere in Osaka. If he really did suspect what Conan had been lead to suspect himself now, he didn't doubt that Heizo would have already taken action to retrieve them. Since he hadn't they might very well not exist.

Unless they were very, very well hidden.

The first floor of the lab appeared to be little more than offices and examination rooms- none of the actual research took place on the first floor, it appeared. They had checked for anything hidden- any secret doors or hidden panels, but they had found nothing. The explosion itself had clearly been generated from the upper floors- although there were traces of fire damage even on the first floor, blackened walls and floors, it had mostly survived intact- save where a portion of the second floor had crumbled down into the very back end of the building. He'd shown his flashlight through the rubble, trying to see if anything had been hidden by it, but could make out nothing. Clearing it would have been impossible.

The only choice then, was to go up.

"Ran would hate this place." Conan found himself muttering underneath his breath, his voice low.

"I still don't see why you needed to bring _him_." Ai whispered, giving voice to her thoughts as her gaze darted over towards Subaru. "The professor would be fine."

"You left the professor back at home so he could run the simulation program while you were gone." Conan whispered back, glancing over towards Ai. "You can trust Subaru-san."

"So you say." Ai's voice was skeptical, though she quickly silenced herself as Subaru turned around, glancing back towards the pair, noticing that they were lagging behind somewhat.

"Is something wrong?" Subaru asked, taking care not to shine the flashlight in their faces.

"Ah, no!" Quickly shaking his head, Conan gave him the best smile that he could manage. "It's just a bit creepy here, so Haibara-san's a bit nervous, that's all!"

The glint in her eyes told him full well that she didn't care for being saddled with the story he'd thrown out, but she nevertheless decided to go along with it, scooting a bit closer to Conan. "It's a bit scary." Her words came out in the _least_ convincing childlike tone that she could manage. "Like a horror movie!"

"I suppose it is somewhat like that." Subaru observed, not buying the girl's act for one second. From what he had come to understand of her, he sincerely doubted that a place like this would shake her in the slightest. He didn't see the need to question the act, however. "It appears that the lab obviously was being used for it's intended purpose, though what that purpose might be, it's difficult to say from what was left behind."

Not much, really. Ruins, fragments of whatever it was that was going on here. Shattered glass, melted equipment, scorched metal. His flashlight lingered on a metal pedestal in the center of the room, before he traced it along, taking notice of others, lining the floor. Seven in total, he mentally calculated, narrowing his eyes as he considered what they might have been used for. Judging from the way the light glinted at the very tip of the base, and from the shattered glass around them, he had a crawling feeling that he knew what they had once been, and what they had once contained. There appeared to be seven matching work stations to go with them- or what was left of them anyways, almost all melted and scorched beyond recognition.

And judging from that look in his eyes, he knew Conan's own thoughts had lead him very much in that same direction. So it appeared that they _were_ on the same page, just as he suspected. Well, he wouldn't expect anything less from him, really, even though Subaru knew he was investigating this matter for far less personal reasons that Conan was. His thoughts, his worries, were on the dying boy lying in a hospital bed, one that he called his friend, one whose sudden collapse had shaken him so badly that for a moment, he'd been thrown into a daze. While certainly, Subaru did not want the young man to die- his thoughts were on the truth, establishing what had really happened here- if Kawaguchi Souma had truly been successful at creating human clones, and if one of those clones had lived, likely unwitting of his true nature.

Carefully studying the fragmented remains of glass, taking care to avoid stepping on any of it himself, Conan's eyes narrowed. Casting his eyes down the line of pedestals, he could make an easy guess as to where the explosion had originated, though not how it had happened- given the hole that had been ripped open in the wall, and the gaping hole in the floor, it wasn't hard to guess that it had occurred in this very room. The heaviest damage was centered around there as well, what remained of the structure in that area having turned pitch black, only chunks of unidentifiable machinery left behind, melted beyond recognition.

Even the metal pedestal that had been closest to it had melted nearly beyond recognition. Even with countless years of careless ruin explorers trampling over the place, he could still tell that the glass had cracked outwards in one direction, from the force of the explosion- most of the gathered shards were on the left side of the pedestals in question. So it had started over there, on the far right side of this second floor room, with enough force to rip a hole in the building. The fire that ensued was probably what had really done the most damage, he thought to himself, as he walked across the room, coming to a stop at the pedestal furthest from the sight of the explosion.

Eyes narrowing a little as he studied it, he quickly picked up on one inconsistency with the others- the lack of glass shards. Pacing the rest of the room, Conan's eyes narrowed, trying to sort through his thoughts. Had Heiji _really_ come from a place like this? Did he really come into the world under such circumstances? It hadn't been just him, either, from the looks of it- if this really was the truth of it. Eyes narrowing, he briefly couldn't help but wonder if the others all had the same face as well, and for a moment, a slight shiver ran up his spine. The thought of children who looked far too much like his friend burning to death was something that had him tasting bile, and he quickly shoved it away, resolving not to think on it. Even if that _were_ the case, there was _nothing_ he could do for those children now- he had to focus on the one that had lived.

He was starting to think Ai's theory was completely on the mark.

There had to be _something_ that he could for Heiji. There had to be _something_ that he could find. Maybe the researcher hadn't died- maybe he was still alive, still out there somewhere. If that were the case, would tracking him down be a good idea? Surely he would be the only person who could save Heiji, if there was indeed a way to do so. But would he be willing to do so in the first place? What would the fallout be if he learned that one of the clones he'd created here was still alive, though just barely clinging to it now?

Would it really help? Or would it just manage to make everything _worse_? Would he demand that in return of saving him, that Heiji be turned over to him- a man who had more right to claim parental ties, the two of them sharing the same blood in a way that was far close than any mere father and son. Just because he and Heiji shared the same face, didn't mean that they were anything alike. It didn't even mean he would be someone nice.

What kind of person, then, was Kawaguchi Souma? What kind of man was it that decided that he was going to create human clones- and actually fulfill that promise? What kind of man was willing to turn his back on the scientific community at large, not caring what they thought of his research? And what kind of man was it, that even the Black Organization had wanted to recruit?

A slightly cold chill crept up his spine then, unable to help but wonder if anyone in the Organization had noticed just how much Hattori Heiji looked like the missing researcher. He was suddenly beginning to regret ever including him in his plans on that haunted ship- he'd allowed one of them to see his face, and he could only pray that whoever it was that was watching the ship had no idea who Kawaguchi Souma was. If the Organization were to learn of this... now that was something Conan didn't want. Bereft of the researcher, they might turn to the only living sample of his work.

He didn't have the answers to any of these questions. He didn't like not having answers to questions, especially when they were as important as these. Someone's life was on the line here, and even though he'd managed to obtain a lead, it still frustratingly felt as if there was _nothing_ that he could do about it.

"Kudo-kun." Ai's voice caught his attention, and he turned her way, noticing that she had gotten ahead of him. She was already shining her flashlight on something, and as Conan hurried to join her, he quickly realized what they were. They had been pried open, only lightly scorched by the fire. Tracing a hand along the surface, he narrowed his eyes, quickly assessing that these doors were most likely designed to be fireproof. Indeed, so had the entire room they lead to, it seemed. "It might have been in this room."

"Yeah. You're probably right." Shining his flashlight over the room, his eyes narrowed as he assessed the small quarters. Some kind of emergency shelter? Was it put here in the event of some kind of catastrophic equipment failure? Whoever had thought to include it clearly had the right idea- although shining his flashlight around the larger room behind him with narrowed eyes, he couldn't help but notice this wasn't the _only_ room. The one closest to the sight of the explosion had been blown away, of course, but even a cursory look showed that the others seemed to have failed.

Only this room remained completely untouched by the fire. What changed the color of it's stark white walls were not flame and smoke, but rather, simply the passage of time.

Watching as the not-children perused the room, carefully looking for clues, Subaru shifted his flashlight somewhat, turning his attention back towards the entrance to the room. Room, perhaps, was not quite the right word- for the 'room' took up nearly the entirety of the second floor, save for the small, emergency shelters built in, and the stairwell just beyond it. Still, even so, it had a proper entrance- and as he shone his flashlight around it, what had haunted his gut feelings ever since the start slowly confirmed itself.

The traces were faint, and hard to make out after all of these years- but it appeared that once the fire started, following the explosion, the entire floor had been sealed off. Perhaps it was simply an emergency failsafe measure that had worked _too_ well, or had tragically malfunctioned. Perhaps it had been _intentional_ , meant to erase traces of what happened here, and what kind of research was being conducted here. One thing, however, was clear. With the source of the fire most likely blocking the only other way out, the hole that had been ripped into the building, there was no way to escape this place.

This room had become a tomb.

For a moment, faintly, he thought he heard them- the sound of screams, the sound of people pounding on the barrier that sealed off their only route of escape. The sound of desperate crying and pleading, the sound of grown men and women whispering underneath their breaths that they didn't want to die, cursing their fates. Ghosts of the past, mere echoes left behind, nothing more.

In the final moments of their lives, this place must have been hell on earth.

* * *

"We need to talk, Toyama. Is there any chance you're still at headquarters?" Finding an isolated part of the hospital to make a phone call had not been difficult, really. There was no one to be found on the roof of this time of night. Normally, visitors would have long since been chased away at this hour, but whether it was because of his position with the police, or the unusual condition of his son, nobody had turned Heizo away when he'd come to visit. His son, naturally, was still asleep- his wife had told him that he'd briefly woken up around eight, only to drift off not even half an hour later.

"Incidentally, I am." Toyama Ginshiro's voice came out clearly across the phone. "We wrapped up one hell of a case today, but I suppose that's not what you're calling about." There was a deep note of concern on the man's voice, one that Heizo could pick on quickly after knowing him for so long. "How is your son?"

"He's still alive." Heizo replied simply. "There's been no news in regards to his condition, however."

"I'm sorry." At a loss for other words, it seemed like the most appropriate thing to say. Even though his voice sounded no different than usual, Ginshiro didn't doubt that Heizo was in pain- he never was the type to display as much on the outside, even as his own son lay dying. If it had been his own daughter, then... "How is Kazuha doing? Her mother said she was coming out on the first flight tomorrow morning to join her, but..."

"She's holding up." Heizo said. "Doing the best that she can. Your daughter is a strong girl, Toyama. You should be proud of her."

"Believe me, I am." Ginshiro replied, before his expression grew more grave. These were not circumstances in which either of the men had ever expected to find themselves. Indeed, the whole mood at police headquarters had been dampened with the news that Heiji had collapsed, and was currently fighting for his life against a mystery ailment that the doctors just couldn't figure out. The chance that they could _lose_ the bright young man that they had all grown fond of weighed heavily on them. "I'm taking it this phone call has something to do with the case from fifteen years ago then."

"It does." Pacing the length of the roof, Heizo glanced down at the darkened hospital courtyard. A brief flash of a conversation from earlier in the day came to his mind, unbidden- Kazuha asking one of the doctors if it were possible to take Heiji from his room for even a little bit, something which had been soundly turned down. It was too dangerous to move him, his state wasn't stable enough for it. "It's very likely Heiji's condition now is tied directly to it."

At the sound of the long sigh over the phone, Heizo knew that Ginshiro had briefly slumped back in his chair- before he slowly rose to his feet. He had been there on that day fifteen years ago himself, so he knew full well _why_ he was asking. Among the still active members of the Osakan police force, he was one of the few who never quite managed to forget _where_ it was their chief's son had first come from, long before he'd become known as such. A long, long time before he had been begun to be praised as the high school detective of the west.

Back when he had simply been a curious, nameless child, that nobody quite knew what to do with- but that everyone understood that they needed to protect. Extreme measures had been taken in order to ensure his safety- from both the media, and other groups that might be looking for him alike- and the involved some things that in any other situation, neither of the men would be proud of. The greatest cover up in recent Osakan police history, all to protect a single child who couldn't so much as speak a word.

"I don't know what we'll turn up after so long, but I'll go get the incident folder. Do you want me to bring it to you, Heizo?"

"Yes." Heizo's tone was rather curt. "The only thing I can think to do now, Toyama, is reopen the investigation into the missing Kawaguchi Souma."

"Provided he survived." Ginshiro noted, his eyes narrowing. Seven adult bodies had been pulled from the research lab- not including the body of the young woman that had been found dead in one of the emergency shelters, the only one that had managed to serve it's purpose. The others almost seemed to be rigged to fail. "We _both_ saw that scene from hell. It's a miracle that _anyone_ lived through it, much less a child."

"He had help." Heizo replied simply, for a moment, the image that had long since burned itself into his mind rose up, unbidden. Curled up in the protective embrace of a woman's arms, the edges of her white lab coat having turned black from the flames that had licked at them, was the sleeping form of a child, an oxygen mask fixed over his face, and a hand that had long since frozen in place over it, firmly holding it there. The tank it was attached to had nearly run out by the time they had arrived.

If the fire had been put out even a few minutes later, if they hadn't opened that room when they had, then perhaps there would have been no survivors at all. Right from the start, Heiji's luck had always been like this- his bad luck would pull him into dangerous, oftentimes near fatal situations- and his good luck would ensure that he would survive, somehow. Even long before he had become known as Hattori Heiji, this had always been the case.

He could only hope that his good luck hadn't finally run out.

"We already interviewed that woman's parents and acquaintances. We couldn't learn anything from them about what she had been hired to do. They didn't even know Kawaguchi-san had hired her in the first place." Ginshiro noted. The records on this incident weren't readily available on the shelves of the records room, but were locked away. He had a key, and Heizo had a key- and no one else. "Hers was the only corpse we were able to identify."

The only corpse spared from the flames. A female genetics researcher, a young prodigy in her field, who had left home one day claiming that she had finally found a research lab that wanted to hire her, and paid very well. Her parents had no idea it would be the last time they ever saw her alive. The next time they saw their daughter, a woman by the name of Makino Suzume, she would have already departed for the next world. They knew nothing about her job, nor what it was she was working on. The only lead that they had dead ended right there.

Leaving only room for speculation. And speculation was the reason why the records were under lock and key, as Ginshiro unlocked the safe, and pulled out the lockbox they were stored in. Speculation was the reason that they had covered up the stranger aspects of the incident, covered up the corpses of the six children, one of whom was barely identifiable as such, having been so close to the source of the explosion. They hadn't even wanted to disclose who the lab had belonged to- but that had leaked out, somehow. Their current superior officer at the time had quickly seen to it that any further leaks were prevented, forever hiding the truth of the situation away.

The FBI had briefly gotten involved, but whatever they had found there, they didn't share with the Osakan police. It wasn't hard to guess what it was that had drawn them there in the first place- it was no secret that Kawaguchi Souma had been investigated by the FBI, shortly before he had disappeared the first time. The FBI investigators had come and gone, as if they were the wind itself.

Nobody told them about the child who had been found at the scene, alive and well, who was currently residing within the head officer's home. If they had done so, surely that child would have vanished without a trace, never to be seen again. And though he denied it, Ginshiro knew that Heizo had already gotten attached to him even back then. From the very moment he saw him carefully carrying that child out of the ruined building, the bright eyed, dark skinned boy taking in the world outside for what seemed to be the first time, Ginshiro had a feeling that a connection had been forged between them. When Heizo had announced that he was adopting the boy, the news hadn't surprised him at all.

They had _all_ grown fond of him, really, even long before he'd grown into a self-assured, overly friendly young detective. Even his daughter, Kazuha, who was at first frustrated with the odd child who wouldn't talk to her, who wouldn't respond to the things she said, and couldn't play with her quite as she liked, had grown fond of him. It had been Ginshiro's idea to introduce the girl to him in the first place- they were around the same age, and he thought that she could help teach him things in a way that no adult could.

It was what would be the start of a deep, lifelong bond, one that tied them together for the rest of their lives. By the time Heiji and Kazuha had managed to handcuff themselves to each other, they'd long since forgotten just how they had met in the first place. By the time Kazuha had turned the links of the handcuffs that had connected them to each other into a charm, they had both completely forgotten Heiji's unusual beginnings.

"It's still worth a fresh look." Heizo's tone brokered no arguments, not that Ginshiro was willing to make any. "My son is _dying_ , Toyama, and that man may very well hold the key to all of this. If there is something I can do to stop it, then I will do whatever I can."

"Have you tried letting your son know just how determined you are?" Ginshiro couldn't help but ask, sliding the lock box into a bag, shutting the safe behind him. He would head straight to Tokyo with it, even if he had to drive all night.

"All Heiji needs to do right now is concentrate on staying alive." Heizo said simply, for a brief moment, both of his eyes opening. "He doesn't need to know the truth."

"He's going to find out one day, Heizo." Ginshiro noted. "He's smart."

"I'm aware." Heizo's tone was frank. He knew full well that if his son managed to pull through this, that he wouldn't be satisfied by whatever answers they gave him to cover up the truth of the situation. He would go looking for answers of his own, and in the process, he didn't doubt that he would gradually begin to uncover the truth on his own. What he would make of that truth would be the real question. "But not while he's fighting for his life, Toyama. That's the only thing he needs to focus on. Not where he came from, or who he is."

"I suppose you're right about that." Ginshiro replied. "But I don't think it's so much of a question as to _who_ he is. You said it yourself already, Heizo. He's your son."

Ginshiro's words gave Heizo the briefest moment of pause, before he closed his eyes, the vaguest hint of a dry laugh escaping from him. To think that he would come to embrace the child who he had pulled from a dead woman's arms, from the wreckage of a hellish crime scene, that he would become someone that he viewed without second thought as his own family. "Yes. I suppose that he is."

* * *

The scent of flames and charred flesh was overpowering, for a moment, overwhelming all of his other senses. Fire danced in his vision, the sound of screams, distinct even amongst the garbled nonsense echoing in his ears. It took him the longest time to realize that the pair of hands tightly gripping his shoulders were not part of his dream, and it was only then that Heiji's eyes snapped open, his breath catching in his throat. He shot bolt upright- and then quickly slumped back down against the bed again, the action having been too much, too quick for him.

"Heiji!" For a moment, he couldn't place the voice that called out his name, not until those green eyes appeared in his line of vision, deep concern in them. "Are ya alright?! Ya looked like you were havin' a nightmare! Should I call a doctor?"

Swallowing, trying to get both his thoughts and his breathing in order, the latter proving far more difficult than the former, Heiji closed his eyes for just a moment- before opening them back up again, meeting those of Kazuha's. "Kazuha." His voice seemed to crack slightly as he spoke her name, before he slowly shook his head. "No. It's fine. It was just a bad dream."

"If ya say so..." Kazuha frowned a little, her gaze flickering over towards the monitor that was keeping track of his heartbeat. For a moment, it had dramatically spiked- but it appeared that it was already calming back down again. Heaving a long sigh, Kazuha's shoulders slumped. "It's not really like ya ta have nightmares, Heiji."

"That's true." Heiji admitted, giving her a small smile. "But that's all it was. Just a bad dream."

"Are ya sure?" Kazuha asked, carefully taking his hand in her own, holding it close to her chest. "It seemed real bad, Heiji."

His smile only grew at the action, and he twitched his fingers lightly, wrapping them slightly around her hand. How the hell had it took him this long to figure out he was in love with her anyways? Honestly, there were _limits_ to being dense. "I'm sure, Kazuha." Heiji was quick to reassure her, not bringing up that he'd been plagued by dreams like this ever since he had been admitted to the hospital. Those strange dreams perhaps weren't quite nightmares- this one had definitely been one however. A vision of hell, almost.

There was probably a reason he was having them. Frankly, he didn't have dreams all that often- the last time he'd had one, it had been about Kudo getting stabbed. That had been many months ago now, probably over half a year- around the first time his friend had actually met Kazuha, now that he thought about it. While he wasn't quite one to believe in such things as premonitions, he'd always put a bit of stock into his dreams, rare as they were.

This didn't seem to be a vision of the future though- more like a distant memory of the past. Which was something that he quite frankly didn't understand. He was certain that he had never been in any fires, and he was pretty sure if he had, his mother would have mentioned it.

But that scene was too vivid, too real to just be something that the had imagined. It bothered him, really- on top of that, exactly what was it that his mother had been trying to say to him earlier? Judging from the look in her eyes, it had been something of some importance- before she had changed her mind, and decided to keep it within herself. He'd tried to press her for it- and had been doing so when he drifted off back to sleep again.

"Geez, ya gave me a big scare." Kazuha said, puffing out her cheeks. "Ya woke me right up!"

"Woke ya up?" Heiji blinked, turning his head to glance at the clock by his bed- it was late!- before he turned a sharp look towards her, his lips twisting in a frown. "Don't tell me ya were tryin' ta sleep here again. _Idiot_ , go back ta yer hotel room and sleep in a proper bed. Ya don't need ta run yerself ragged lookin' after me."

"But I'm worried about ya!" Kazuha insisted. "Besides, I took a nap this afternoon in a proper bed, so I'm fine."

"It's not fine, idiot." Heiji insisted, narrowing his eyes. "Ya need ta take care of yerself, Kazuha. I don't want ta see ya make yerself sick just cause yer worried about me. Besides, I spend most of my time sleepin' anyways, so there's no point in bein' here all the time ta begin with."

"But..." Kazuha began, trailing off a little, before heaving a long sigh. Well, having someone as sick as Heiji lecture her on looking after her own health definitely stung- even if she thought her reasons for it were good. "That's all the more reason to spend time here, isn't it? What if I miss ya durin' the times when yer awake, Heiji. I miss hearin' yer voice ya know, idiot."

"Geez, yer so stubborn." Heiji said. "Just go back ta yer hotel an' get some proper sleep, Kazuha. Okay?"

"Fine." Carefully letting go of his hand, placing it back down on the bed, Kazuha leaned over, carefully planting a quick kiss on his forehead. "If yer goin' ta insist that much, I guess I've got no choice. Ah, that's right though, while yer awake, my mom's comin' down ta join us tomorrow. I thought ya might like ta know."

"Oh, yer mom, huh?" Heiji asked, a slight grin crossing his face. "Ah, by the way, Kazuha, have ya seen Kudo?"

"Kudo-kun?" Kazuha blinked, for a moment not understanding the question- before she slowly shook her head. "No. Ran-chan said she sent him a text to let him know, and he responded back, but if yer askin' if he's come ta visit, then the answer's no. Honestly, an' I thought the two of ya were supposed ta be close!"

"Ah, no..." Blinking as he realized that she had gotten the wrong idea- which was probably for the best, Heiji gave her something of a sheepish grin. "Sorry, Kazuha. I actually meant Conan-kun."

"Why do ya keep makin' that mistake anyways?" Kazuha asked, folding her arms in front of her chest, before she let out a sigh. "No. Ever since he ran outta here this afternoon, I haven't seen him. Apparently Ran-chan said that he's with some girl named Haibara, but I haven't heard anythin' else after that."

"Haibara?" Quickly placing the name in his head, a knowing look briefly flickered across Heiji's face. "Ah, that little Neechan. Well, don't worry about it. He'll probably be back around again tomorrow." If Conan was with that scientist girl, then it was possible that she might have come up with _some_ kind of answer. He could only hope that it was a good thing.

Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring up his strange dreams with them, if he got the chance. For some reason he couldn't shake the feeling that they were related to all of this, even if he couldn't quite make sense of them.

"Heiji." Kazuha spoke up again. "I love ya, ya know."

Some might accuse her of being overly gushy, or being too affectionate- but she still couldn't shake the dread that every time he woke up might be his last. She had held off on saying it for too long- so now she needed to say it as much as possible while she still could. If Heiji really didn't pull through this...

No, she wasn't going to think that way. She wasn't.

"What a coincidence." Heiji told her, a hint of a grin surfacing on his face. "I happen ta feel the same way."


	6. Blood and Bone

**AN** : And without further ado, here's chapter six! I hope everyone enjoys this chapter! I don't really have anything else to say in this corner, so thanks for reading, and be sure to leave a review if you can! Until next time!

* * *

 **Collapse**

 **Chapter Six**

 **Blood and Bone**

* * *

Blue eyes peered curiously across the table towards him, watching him with rapt attention as he split apart his chopsticks, picking a piece of fish off the bone with them. As his wife busied herself in the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on the boy's own breakfast, Heizo found himself the center of his full attention, wide eyes taking in every action he performed as if it were the first time in the world he'd ever seen such a thing.

It wasn't, Heizo knew that much- the odd boy had been with them for nearly two weeks now. Watching as the child reached out one of his hands, silently trying to grab for the chopsticks, Heizo merely shook his head, pulling them out of his reach. "Chopsticks are a bit too advanced for you right now, boy. Stick with the fork for the moment."

He knew that the child couldn't understand a word that he said, but he'd been told that speaking to him would be a good idea nevertheless, and Heizo wasn't about to question the professionals. They had taken him in for what felt like countless sessions already- and while they had been assured that there didn't appear to be anything wrong with the child's ability to learn, they seemed concerned that his language skills might be somewhat lacking, given what a late start he was getting on learning to talk.

"It's _Heiji_ , dear." Shizuka said softly as she made her way out of the kitchen, carefully setting down the paper plate in front of the boy. She'd taken care to cut apart the pancakes that she had made into bite sized pieces- it had just been the other day when he'd nearly choked after trying to swallow something that was a bit too big for him. He had still been using his hands to eat then, it was rather remarkable he'd taken to using the small plastic child's fork that Shizuka had bought so easily. "He has a name now, so I suggest you use it."

"Mm." Heizo observed, taking another bite of his fish, watching as the young child that sat across from him picked up his fork, doing what best could be described as stabbing one of the pancake pieces with it. He looked pleased with himself, Heizo supposed, as he shoved it into his mouth, a content expression crossing his face. In some ways, he was just like any other child, which was reassuring to see. "Heiji."

It had just been the other day when Heizo had come home from work to discover that his wife had picked out a name for the previously nameless child. He didn't respond to it, of course, unaware that this particular noise was one that was linked to himself. In time, perhaps he would. He wondered what kind of voice the child would have when he finally spoke- should he ever manage to learn. He knew that he did, in fact, have a voice- in lieu of words, he made any number of vague sounds and noises to express what he wanted to express.

"He's started walking on his own, you know." Shizuka observed, carefully taking a seat next to Heiji, watching him as he ate, making sure that he chewed every bite properly. She had already eaten her own breakfast ahead of waking him up- she couldn't leave him unsupervised, not even for a second. "Not very _well_ , but he's starting to learn."

"That explains the bruised knees." Heizo observed. "That's good, I suppose. We can't just keep carrying him around for forever." Not that the child weighed very much, though he had put on some weight ever since he'd come to live with them. The first time Heizo had picked him up, he couldn't help but notice how distressingly light the three year old boy was- at least, three was the age estimate he'd been given, nobody actually knew for certain how old he was.

He acted far more like a newborn, though one with a high propensity for learning. Looking after him was a constant chore, but it appeared to be one that his wife was nevertheless enjoying- and that was probably for the best, really. It didn't give her time to focus on the recent loss of their own child- this one had barely made it to term, which made everything all the more painful.

"Has anyone come looking for him yet?" Shizuka asked, pausing to wipe the boy's face, an action which caused him to puff out his cheeks, making a vague noise of complaint, and caused a fond smile to creep over her own face. She didn't quite know what to expect when Heizo brought the strange boy home with him that evening two weeks ago, but she had grown fond of him before she had even realized it. He was a curious child in every respect- there were simply so many things he just did not know how to do, things that she had to teach him from the ground up.

Thankfully, he was a fast learner. Perhaps he had smart parents- and at the thought of parents, Shizuka's eyes narrowed, wondering exactly how it was a child could have grown to this age without even knowing how to so much as chew his food properly. Especially given that there seemed to be _no_ problem with his capability to learn.

"No." Heizo said curtly, watching as Heiji finished off the last of his pancake pieces, the sweet, sugary breakfast food having vanished all but in the blink of an eye. "Nobody has come for him. I don't think anyone will, Shizu."

"I see." Shizuka noted, watching as the boy let out a loud yawn, slowly blinking his eyes. Turning her full attention towards him, she carefully wiped his mouth again, before ruffling his hair a little. "Don't tell me you're getting sleepy again already, Heiji? You only just woke up, you know." Watching as the boy seemed to already be nodding off, Shizuka could only heave a slight sigh. "Oh dear, yes, you _are_ getting sleepy again. Come on then, let's get you back to bed. Stay awake for me a little longer until then, sweetheart."

Carefully scooping up the small boy in her arms, her expression softened as he curled up into them, one hand lightly grasping at the fabric of her kimono. His grip was weak- there was no real strength behind it, though it had been getting better. "Really now, I do hope your sleep schedule sorts itself out eventually."

"I'll put the dishes away myself, Shizu." Heizo noted, casting one eye towards her. "Take your time putting the boy to sleep."

"Thank you kindly, dear." Shizuka noted, leaning down to briefly kiss him on the cheek, before she carefully made her way out of the living room, cradling the already lightly dozing child in her arms. Really, his sleep schedule was so erratic- one minute he would be wide awake, and the next, he would be fast asleep. If she didn't catch him fast enough to put him to bed, she'd just have to leave him where he dozed off, otherwise he only ended up being distressed and disorientated once he woke up, should she move him.

Really, what a troublesome child, Shizuka thought to herself, as she carefully tucked him into bed, passing him the stuffed bear that she had bought for what would have been her own child. Sitting down next to him, she watched as he wrapped his arms around it, curling up underneath his sheets- and before she knew it, he was fast asleep again. A soft smile graced her features as she reached out, lightly stroking his hair. It was soft to the touch, and it was a gesture that he seemed to appreciate.

He was a troublesome child indeed- and yet she found herself quickly growing fond of him. She might not be able to communicate with him, but he was so bright, so cheerful, that she couldn't help but fall in love with him. The house itself felt all the brighter now that he was here, and she couldn't possibly imagine him one day leaving them, going away from her. She hadn't yet brought it up with Heizo, but Shizuka was giving serious consideration into adopting the boy herself.

If nobody else wanted him, then she was more than happy to embrace him with loving arms, to call him her own. She had a feeling that there were things about him that Heizo was _not_ telling her- namely as to why she wasn't allowed to take him outside the house for the time being, and why she wasn't allowed to bring him up to any of her friends. But it didn't matter- she had come to love this child, and imagining life without him around seemed simply dreadful.

"Would you like me to be your mother, Heiji?" Shizuka softly whispered, lightly tracing a finger down one of his cheeks, watching as he shifted a little in his sleep, reaching out a hand, wrapping it around her fingers as if by instinct. Unable to keep the smile off of her face, she leaned down, planting a gentle kiss on his forehead. "I'm going to take that as a yes, you know."

 _"Auntie Shizuka?"_

The light hand shaking her shoulder was what finally roused her out of her dreams, as Shizuka slowly blinked awake, half not aware that she had even drifted off to sleep. It took her a moment to place the where- and more importantly the when, something that slowly sunk into her as she looked towards the one who had roused her. A slight smile crossed her features as she looked up on the face of Kazuha, the teenage girl peering down at her with slight worry. "Did I drift off for a moment there?" She asked, brushing off the sudden nap, induced no doubt by her recent lack of sleep, with practiced ease.

"Just a little bit." Kazuha told her, giving her a slight smile. "It's alright. Heiji's still asleep too." She said, glancing over towards the slumbering form of her childhood friend, her eyes narrowing slightly as his breath rasped in a way that she didn't like. The doctors had seemed troubled by his what appeared to be a steadily increasing difficultly with breathing, and had taken measures to try and prevent it from getting any worse than it already had. "You seemed like you were having a nice dream."

"Yes, I suppose I was." Shizuka told her, brushing a stray strand of hair back behind her ears, casting a look of her own towards the sleeping form of her son. Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly as he seemed to twitch in his sleep, finding herself wondering what kind of dreams it was that he was having. Kazuha had told him he had some kind of nightmare that she had roused him from sleep late last night, and she couldn't help but be bothered by this information.

She had been having nightmares herself recently- horrid visions of a world where Heiji had ceased to be. Compared to that, dreaming of the past as she just had was far more pleasant. Such memories might have already faded from her son's own mind, but she could still remember them, as vivid as they were yesterday. It really had been quite troublesome back then- but quite fun in it's own right as well.

"Where's Heizo?" Shizuka inquired, taking notice of the fact that her husband was no longer in the room with her. Come to think of it, Kazuha had still been in bed the last thing she remembered- goodness, how long had she been sleeping here, exactly?

"He went ta meet with my father, apparently." Kazuha told her, a slight frown crossing her features. Although her father had taken the time to greet her briefly, embracing her rather tightly, he'd impressed the need upon her that he needed to discuss some things with Heiji's father post haste, and that he would speak to her more in length in a little while. She was surprised to even see him here- as was her mother, who apparently had no idea that he was coming either.

Had Heiji's father called him here for some reason? What for? It felt a little like there was something going on behind the scenes that she didn't know about.

She could only hope it was nothing bad. She had enough of bad news already.

* * *

The only thing that really surprised him was the fact that Kazuha's father had apparently arrived sometime during the night. In hindsight, he supposed it made sense- Heizo wasn't exactly about to leave his son's side to return to Osaka, no matter how pressing his need for the case records in question were. And they were pressing indeed, he had gathered- just as he thought, Hattori Heizo had long since realized full well that whatever was going on with his son was doubtlessly linked to the place where he had found him in the first place.

He never thought their first meeting would be under such circumstances. Thinking back on it, it would have been better if they had occasion to meet face to face like this before all of this happened- it would have been much easier to get the man to put his trust in him had they ever spoken like this before.

But as it was, this was the first time that Kudo Shinichi and Hattori Heizo were meeting- at least, to the latter's knowledge, it was. It hadn't been that hard to convince Ai to hand over one of the temporary antidote pills this time- she knew just as well as he did that this was something that he needed to be wearing his _own_ face for. Besides that, if Kudo Shinichi didn't show up even once as his best friend lay dying, it would quickly sour just about every relationship that he had. Even Ran wouldn't be inclined to forgive him for never showing up to so much as even visit Heiji, and honestly? He wouldn't blame her.

He could only hope that those perceptive eyes weren't seeing right through him at the moment, drawing connections between the peculiar young lad from the Mouri Detective Agency, and the young high school detective before him. As wonderful as it would be to have someone like Hattori Heizo as an ally, dealing with the Black Organization was the last thing on his mind right now- and he could only hope that it _stayed_ this way.

He had dropped by the detective agency earlier that morning, still in Conan's form, to let Ran know that he was alright. She was apparently worried about him, worried about how he was taking the news. As far as she knew, nobody had told Conan that Heiji was slowly dying- but from the tone of her voice alone, he guessed that she had realized that he knew. She didn't question it the least bit, really. Conan had always been a perceptive child, able to pick up on things like that. Too perceptive, she'd say, in a situation like this.

There was one thing about his visit there that bothered him though- and that was the fact that Amuro Tooru was missing from his post at Poirot. As far as Conan knew, he had never met Heiji, though doubtlessly he knew of the Osakan high school detective's association with him. It gave him a rather uneasy feeling, especially when he learned from Azusa that he had called in sick since yesterday. He could only hope that the looming sense of dread he felt hanging overheard was simply the cloud of Heiji's death sentence hanging over him, and nothing anything that would further complicate the _already_ incredibly complicated situation.

Heiji's life _depended_ on swift action. He didn't have time to deal with the Organization right now. If given the choice between chasing them, even if Rum showed up right in front of his eyes, and acting to save Heiji's life, he would without a doubt choose the latter- much as missing a chance at the former would chafe at him for the rest of his life.

"I've heard much about you from my son, Kudo-han." Heizo finally said, and briefly, Shinichi couldn't help but wonder what sort of things it was that he had heard from Heiji. The man was studying him carefully, gauging his every reaction in a way that was downright intimidating. No wonder, given the way he had introduced himself to him. "But I'm afraid that I don't know what you mean by the case from fifteen years ago."

"I know that you _do_ , Hattori-san." Shinichi said, his eyes narrowing, letting out a long breath. He knew that Heizo wouldn't give up the information so easily, even if he did show up in person. It was doubtlessly _beyond_ classified. They had found a private corner to discuss the matter in- or rather, Shinichi had intruded upon Heizo's private conversation with Kazuha's father. He didn't miss the folder that was held by Ginshiro, and knew at once what it likely was, and why he was even here. It's large size alone indicated that Heizo certainly hadn't slacked on his investigation the first time around.

"I know about your son. The truth, or what's most likely to be the truth." Shinichi said slowly, dropping his voice to ensure that on the off chance there were any ears listening to them, they wouldn't be able to overhear a thing. "Hattori's my best friend, so when I heard that he was sick with a mysterious ailment from Conan-kun, I began looking into the matter right away."

"That's the work of a doctor, boy, not a detective." Heizo observed, leveling his gaze with the young man. His son had _failed_ to mention how much this Kudo Shinichi resembled the young boy from the Mouri Detective Agency- and there was something that made him suspect they were somehow vaguely connected. In an eerie way, it reminded him of his son's own too close resemblance to Kawaguchi Souma. Whatever the case, it didn't matter to him now. What he wanted to know now, rather, was _how_ he had managed to come to the conclusion that the case from fifteen years ago had anything to do with Heiji's current condition, and just _why_ it was he was asking for a chance to look at the case records.

"Generally, yes, that would be true. But not in Hattori's case." Shinichi said, hoping that he wasn't letting the pleading edge in his voice come out half as much as he thought he was. "I went to the ruins myself, Hattori-san, and saw the lab for myself. Or what _remained_ of it anyways. I _know_ what kind of research Kawaguchi Souma was performing, and I also know just _how much_ Hattori resembles him."

Exchanging the briefest of looks with Ginshiro, the man silently handed over the folder that he was carrying to Heizo, who took it carefully. Slowly leveling his gaze back on Shinichi, he almost felt himself flinch slightly at the intense way that Heizo studied him- he had always known that Heiji's father could be more than a little bit intimidating, but he had never had the full force of that turned towards him. "How much _do_ you know, Kudo-han?"

"I know just as much as you've probably already speculated yourself." Shinichi told him frankly. "It's... a little bit hard for me to believe." He confessed after a moment. "But right now, I know that it's the likeliest reason behind why Hattori's body is giving out on him. I'm not asking you to give me the records for free, Hattori-san, I can imagine they're _beyond_ top secret, and I can understand why. If something like this were to leak out, your son's safety would very likely be at stake. I _will_ tell you that right now, I have someone working on something that at the very least, might keep Hattori's condition from getting worse than it is, and keep him _alive_ , a very reliable scientist that I know."

Once she had returned to her lab, Ai had wasted no time in beginning to synthesize a stabilizing agent for Heiji. They had found no such traces of anything like that at the lab, nor any records of any kind- but in her absence, her simulator program had come up with a number of possibilities that might be able to help. All that remained now was actually creating them, and putting them to the test.

"I also have... certain contacts in the FBI who will help us, no questions asked." Shinichi said after a moment, lips twisting into a frown. That wasn't _quite_ true- Subaru was doubtlessly filled with questions of his own, but he doubted that either he, nor Jodie, whom he had doubtlessly contacted about the matter, would do anything to put Heiji's life in danger. "If Kawaguchi-san has fled outside of Japan, they're better suited than us when it comes to finding him. Provided he's _alive_."

There was truth in his words- as well as desperation, Heizo couldn't help but note. He knew from his son that he had befriended the one that the media had dubbed the high school detective of the east. Heiji seemed to cheerfully view him as his best, second only after Kazuha, so it was obvious that he meant quite a bit to his son. And it appeared that Heiji meant quite a bit to this Kudo Shinichi himself- it was given away by the tone of his voice, the expression on his face, the slightest hint of body language.

Sitting by and letting his rival die was obviously _not_ something that Shinichi planned on doing. Not if there was something that he could do to stop it.

There was a long pause, an awkward silence hanging in the air between them as Heizo carefully considered the young man before him. He had never so much as met him before, and he couldn't help but notice how he had all but avoided the topic of how he had come to this information in the first place. Heiji's origins were something he had ensured were tightly under wraps, so that they wouldn't come to light once he started earning newspaper coverage for his detective work. It was the one thing that Heizo had ever abused his position for. The last thing he wanted was for Heiji to find out the truth from someone other than either himself or Shizuka, should he ever learn that much himself.

But even more concerning was what would happen once such information was out there- and what conclusions the public would draw. Most, he suspected, would draw the same conclusion that he himself had come to- as had the young man before him. That the son of Osaka's chief of police, the one praised as a high school detective, was an artificial human, a lab grown _clone_. He didn't want to think what sort of questions would come up from such a revelation, knowing full well that there would many who would call into question his very rights as a human.

Even if it was true, and even if the child that he'd come to think of as his son really _was_ a clone, he was still a human being. If he had been born a little bit differently from everyone else, then it didn't really matter, certainly not to the point where he didn't deserve the same rights as everyone else. Already he was vaguely apprehensive that the doctors might discover something that would lead them to realize the truth, that he hadn't developed as a normal child would have, but he knew that he couldn't do anything to impede their work, least he put Heiji's life at risk.

His life was still more important than the secret that he carried, the one even his admittedly smart son wasn't even aware of himself.

"I'm quite certain I don't have to impress upon you how important it is that word of this doesn't leak out, Kudo-han." Finally breaking the long moment of silence, Heizo watched as a rather well masked, but still visible look of relief crossed Shinichi's face. "That _includes_ my son."

"Yes, I understand." Shinichi said, keeping his tone rather curt. He didn't like the idea of keeping secrets from Heiji- especially not when they were about himself. If things turned out well, and Heiji managed to recover, he would consider going back on his promise- but at the moment, perhaps it would be best if Heiji simply focused on staying alive. That was a struggle enough as it was, and he didn't need any unneeded complications clouding that. "I won't mention a word of it to Hattori. Not that I'm sure he'd _believe_ me anyways."

Well, coming from him, he might.

"We'll continue this discussion in a more private setting." Exchanging a brief glance with Ginshiro, silently advising him to seek out his daughter, to ensure that neither she nor his wife found their way back to the hotel during this time period, he quickly turned his attention back towards Shinichi. "Or did you want to take a chance to visit my son first, Kudo-han? From the way he speaks about you, the two of you seem quite close."

"Ah, I'll visit Hattori later." Shinichi promised him, giving him a small smile. No doubt Heiji would be surprised to see him in his real form for a change- provided that he was even awake when he did visit him. According to Ai, he had roughly twenty-four hours before he turned back, the same time limit as normal, and he intended to not waste a single second of it. "At the current moment, discussing the situation is more important. There's plenty of things about that case that didn't go on public record, right? Not just limited to Hattori's existence."

"That's correct." Heizo told him with a curt nod. "Well then, Kudo-han. If you'll accompany me, we can discuss the matter in more depth."

Perhaps this would work out rather well for him- Heizo didn't like the idea of leaving his son behind while he went searching for a man that might already very well be dead. And he could sense the honesty in Shinichi's words- he didn't want this information leaking out any more than Heizo did, and would doubtlessly prove a great asset to the investigation, given what he'd heard of his reputation, and what he'd heard about him from his son. Granted, he was somewhat curious about this scientist and these FBI investigators that he had allied himself with- exactly what kind of circumstances did this young man have, for him to know such people?

Involving the FBI was an idea that troubled him- but they would have no power over a Japanese citizen currently in Japan, which was what Heiji was, for the moment. While human cloning was certainly illegal in many places in the world, it wasn't as if the clone could be blamed for existing, especially not after all this time. Shinichi seemed to trust them, at any rate, and he knew full well that he was right. If Kawaguchi Souma really _was_ still alive, and had left Japan, then he was out of both of their reaches. Not so for a group such as the FBI, however.

One way or another, the key to saving Heiji's life lay in trying to track down the researcher- and more importantly, his research. Perhaps the fear that such a situation would unfold had always existed there, in the back of Heizo's mind, as he watched his son grow up, starting to resemble the man that he had only seen in photographs more and more. Although he put his mind to use for completely different things, there was no mistake that he was just as intelligent as the researcher whose genes were an exact match for his own. If that intelligence was sometimes tempered by impulsive behavior and recklessness, then at the very least, that was something that made him uniquely himself, rather than just being a copy.

From what very little he understood about Kawaguchi Souma, although he and Heiji might very well be genetically identical, the two of them couldn't have been more different when it came to the things that were truly important. The conclusion that they had drawn from the investigation of the crime scene alone was proof enough of that- the explosion had been no mere accident, and furthermore, it was no accident that the room it had happened in had been sealed with people still inside, and it was no accident that all but one of the emergency shelters failed.

There was only one possible culprit behind both of those things- the one who had overseen the construction of the research lab in the first place, the head of research himself. While it was still possible he might have not caused the initial explosion, the ensuing actions doubtlessly had been his own work. Rather than risk discovery of his work, there was no doubt in his mind that Souma had acted to seal the room himself, trapping everyone inside, and sealing their fates. Even those seven children who shared the same face as he, he had sentenced to death without so much as a second thought. Such a man was nothing like his son, who would never forgive someone who stole a life from another, regardless of the reasons. Someone who had gotten himself shot trying to keep a serial murderer from killing himself.

It was also why he strongly suspected that somewhere out there, Kawaguchi Souma was still alive, and was still continuing his research. But it was also for that reason that he already understood that if the man himself caught wind of Heiji before they managed to apprehend him, then doubtlessly he would take action to reclaim what he was unlikely to view as anything more than a failing prototype.

And that thought, more than anything, made Heizo's blood _boil_.

* * *

When she had gotten a rather unexpected phone call out of the blue from none other than Akai Shuichi, Jodie had been more than happy to help him with what he was looking into at the moment, even though he claimed that it might have nothing to do with the Organization. Kawaguchi Souma was a name that she dimly recalled, though she didn't know why at first- not until she began digging for information. No sooner than she had, did it all come back to her. She had only just barely been born when the initial controversy broke- that one of the leading genetics researchers in America was doing rather questionable research into human cloning, but she recalled the case from fifteen years ago, something that had stirred up yet another media firestorm.

She had still been a child then, so it was no surprise that her memories of the exact details were rather hazy. She had all but forgotten the face of the researcher that had been plastered all over the news at the time- and as big as a story as it was fifteen years ago, it had quickly died out again. So when she came across old photographs of him while browsing through the FBI database on the man, they had given her more than a moment of pause, feeling that she had seen that face somewhere recently- or rather, a face that was almost hauntingly similar to it.

Digging through her memories landed her on one person- the high school detective, Hattori Heiji, who she had only met properly once. Putting a chin to her hand, her brows furrowing in thought as she dug herself deeper into the rabbit hole, sorting through what available photographs they had of the man, Jodie got a crawling feeling that this was no mere coincidence. A prodigy in his field, yet rather enigmatic right from the start, there was no doubt that the now disgraced genetics researcher was a brilliant man- the first award for his research he'd earned had been handed over to him when he was only nineteen years old, something that had been highly documented by scientific journals at the time. Such articles no longer existed in common circulation anymore- she doubted that anyone outside of the FBI even had access to such things.

And if thirty seven year old Kawaguchi Souma looked rather like Hattori Heiji, the nineteen year old prodigy researcher was a _dead ringer_ for him. If it weren't for the obvious fact that said photo was over forty years old, she would say that they could have been identical twins, even.

"What is it that you have me looking into, Shu?" Jodie found herself asking, skipping all formalities and greetings upon getting the man on the phone. Hearing the faint sound of him switching off his voice changer, Jodie's eyes narrowed somewhat.

"I take it that you've been looking into what I've been asking you to, then." Shuichi replied simply. "It's a matter of rather pressing importance. Someone's life is riding on this. I believe you've met him before, if I recall one of your earlier reports correctly."

So he really _was_ connected to all of this- the idea that the one in question might be in danger didn't sit well with her. Heaving a long sigh, Jodie pinched the bridge of her nose, steadying her thoughts first and foremost. "That I have. You're referring to that high school detective from Osaka, correct? Hattori Heiji, I recall his name was." Not that he had actually introduced himself to her at the time- and she never did have another occasion to meet him in person. Judging from the reports that she had read after the fact, after their attempt to corner Vermouth had failed, it appeared that he was somehow rather deeply involved with whatever it was that the Edogawa Conan boy was still hiding from them.

"But I'm surprised. I didn't think you'd ever met him yourself, Shu." Jodie noted.

"I haven't." Shuichi told her. "He collapsed at that Professor's house, however. When I went outside to investigate the source of the sirens, I saw him being carried out on a stretcher. I felt that I knew his face from somewhere, so when I began to dig for information into the matter, I ended up coming up with some fairly startling results."

"Wait a second." Jodie blinked, her face paling slightly. "What's this about Hattori-kun collapsing? I hadn't heard anything about that." And at that Professor's place as well- that could only mean one person, she knew. If that was the case, did Conan know about it? Was he there at the time? She had gotten the impression that the two of them were extremely close, and she couldn't help but feel more than a little worried for the bespectacled boy who had wormed his way into their investigation before they had even fully realized it. "What about Conan-kun, Shu?"

He was a rather remarkable child, but still a child- there was no way he was handling something like this well.

"He's holding up." Shuichi said, only the slightest hint of his own concern for the boy allowed in his voice. No doubt that if everything he was doing now proved fruitless, and they still couldn't manage to save Heiji, then it would prove a hard blow for the boy to take. He might not be quite the young child that he appeared to be, but even so, a teenager was still a child in their own right in Shuichi's book. "More importantly, Jodie, have there been any developments in that case since then?"

"In regards to Kawaguchi-san?" Jodie asked, gaze flicking back towards the screen in front of her, a tight frown forming on her lips. "I'm afraid not much. At the very least, from the investigation that was done at the scene of his destroyed lab in Osaka fifteen years ago, they were able to determine that it's very likely that he was in fact, performing research on human cloning, and perhaps had even gone so far as to actually create a handful. It appeared that he hired a number of talented researchers in the fields of genetics and biology in order to commence with this project. Out of them, only one corpse found at the scene was able to be identified, although we were able to eventually determine the names of the rest based on missing persons reports that were filed later."

"Apparently she escaped from the flames using one of the emergency shelters, and was lucky enough to get into the only one that functioned properly. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't rescued until _after_ her oxygen supply had run out." Jodie observed, her eyes narrowing a little as she read up on the information. She got the vague feeling that something didn't fit here. "A twenty eight year old genetics researcher by the name of Makino Suzume. Her parents still live in the Chiba prefecture, apparently. I can send you the address if you'd like to speak with them. The other researchers all came from overseas, apparently."

"I would appreciate it." Shuichi said. It was an avenue worth pursuing. "Was there anything else?"

"It's believed that the doors meant to prevent fire from escaping the lab were lowered on purpose with everyone still inside. Contrary to what the Osakan police reported, it appears as if the initial explosion that sparked everything was likewise intentional." Jodie said, placing a hand on her chin, her eyes trailing over towards the name of the police officer who was placed in charge of the scene at the time. There was no way _that_ was a coincidence either. "Apparently the investigators who looked into the matter at the time wanted to keep this as quiet as possible, and didn't work too closely with the police, but I'm getting the feeling that this might have been a mistake on their part."

"Since then, there has been no more information in regards to Kawaguchi-san one way or another. It's hard to say if he's still alive or not." Jodie observed. "There was still one corpse unaccounted for in the lab, but it was burned so badly by fire that it was impossible to identify. It appeared that he hired at least seven different researchers to work with him, but including that of Makino-san, _eight_ adult corpses were found."

Briefly recalling the way the lab was set up, Shuichi couldn't help but frown. There had been seven pedestals in the room- was there one clone for each researcher? If that was the case, then it was likely that the one known as Hattori Heiji had been under the care of the aforementioned Makino Suzume- who had most likely escaped from the fire into the only functional emergency shelter with him. There had been remains of oxygen tanks in the other, failed emergency shelters, so if she had given up most of her oxygen to the child in question in order to allow him to survive... Judging from the way Jodie had described the situation, this didn't appear to be information that the FBI had any knowledge of.

Just as he suspected, the existence of the survivor had been thoroughly covered up by the Osakan police.

"I'll keep looking into the matter myself." Jodie said after a moment. She didn't doubt that Heiji's sudden collapse and this information were related somehow- and she got the sneaking feeling that she knew _exactly_ how. "I'll send you the files that we have on Kawaguchi-san as well. But be careful, Shu."

It was the eyes that did it, really. There was something in those eyes, even as far back as when he was nineteen years old, that gave her the instinctive feeling that this was not a person who could have been considered 'good'. It was the blank, expressionless look on his face, that almost never seemed to change- such an expression she couldn't help but feel would have been totally out of place on the face of the young man she had met at her apartment on that day.

If Kawaguchi Souma really was still alive, then he was probably dangerous.

* * *

" _Kudo?!_ "

When was he going to learn that jolting up in bed was a mistake? Finding himself sinking back down into the hospital bed no sooner than he had done so, Heiji groaned a little, finding the world dancing before his eyes. Trying to steady his vision, he placed a hand on his forehead, struggling to take a deep breath. That too, was getting harder and harder as time went on.

"You don't need to get up, Hattori." Shinichi told him, carefully rising to his feet, worriedly fussing over his friend. It had nearly been a full day since he had seen him last- and he there was no way that he could miss the fact that he was already looking more haggard than he last remembered. Ai had given him an initial estimate of a month- but he couldn't help but worry that Heiji had less time than that. "Sorry, I didn't mean to shock you."

"Ya show up in that form, an' then tell me that ya didn't mean ta shock me?" Heiji asked, unable to help but quirk a brow, his vision blessedly ceasing to dance. "What else did ya expect ta happen, Kudo? Did ya get one of those antidote pills from that little Neechan?"

"Yeah." Shinichi told him, nodding his head. It was a good thing that Kazuha had decided that he needed a little alone time with his best friend, and had shooed everyone else out of the room- otherwise that comment would have been _awfully_ hard to explain. He wasn't going to blame Heiji for the slip up though- not now. "She did. I thought that maybe Kudo Shinichi should come pay a visit to his sick friend at some point."

That wasn't the whole truth, but it would do for now. He really didn't like lying to Heiji, but he understood why it had to be done- at the moment, at least.

God, but he couldn't get the image of that researcher out of his head now- nor of that lab, springing to mind every time he so much as closed his eyes. It was still surreal to think about- especially now that he had the confirmation from Heizo himself. He had told him in short order, that yes, it was at that lab that he had first found the young boy that he eventually had come to adopt as his own son, cradled in the protective embrace of a dead woman. If he had any doubts that Heiji was actually a clone, they were gone now- there was no other way to explain the fact that his DNA matched exactly with the DNA from the other child corpses found at the scenes, after all.

A clone. His best friend, his rival, the trusted ally that he had come to depend on was really, _truly_ , a human clone. An artificial human, grown in a lab. He had never been carried in his mother's womb, didn't even so much as _have_ one, instead nursed in an artificial incubator- probably what those pedestals that had been found at the scene had once been.

They really did look like each other, Heiji and Souma. Too much like each other. If Heiji survived this, he was going to _strongly recommend_ that he invest in some hair dye.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing." Heiji said, a quick grin forming on his lips. "It's nice ta actually see yer real face again, Kudo." There seemed to be something unsaid there, something that Heiji didn't dare give voice to- in spite of the bright smile on his face, there was something that haunted his eyes.

A shadow of death. He would fight it to the end, but it would always be there, looming over him- until they managed to conquer it. Or until it finally came for him. Either way, it wasn't something that Shinichi liked to see, not in eyes that should have shone much brighter than this.

Heizo had shown Shinichi a photograph taken of Heiji- who hadn't been Heiji back then, just a nameless child- right after he had been found. Somehow he had expected a blank, expressionless child, but the three year old child who stared back at him had bright, shining eyes, filled with curiosity. He wondered if it was the influence of the one who had likely been in charge of him, the woman known as Makino Suzume. When he had contacted Subaru with this information, it appeared as if he already knew that much- and was already planning on speaking to her parents.

She had gone to such lengths to save him. He'd never met her, and he'd never get the chance to, but he couldn't help but be grateful to this woman who had helped to bring Heiji into the world- and who had fought to keep him there.

"Kudo." Heiji spoke up, his voice snapping him out of his thoughts. Finding that astute gaze of his, a detective's look, fixed on him, Shinichi could help but give him a small, awkward smile. He had promised Heizo not to tell anything- but keeping the fact that there was something more going on here from someone like his son was hardly the easiest of tasks. He had, after all, linked Kudo Shinichi and Edogawa Conan after only meeting the former once.

"What is it that ya aren't tellin' me?"


	7. Symptom

**AN** : And at last, here's the seventh chapter! Sorry for the wait, but as always, thank you all for your continued support of this story! Thank you very much for reading, and please leave a review if you have a second!

Well then, until next time!

* * *

 **Collapse**

 **Chapter Seven**

 **Symptom**

* * *

"What is it that ya aren't tellin' me?"

"I really can't slip anything past you, can I?" Shinichi couldn't help but ask, somehow managing to give Heiji a smile, in spite of the circumstances. Figures- he wasn't called the high school detective of the west in some circles for nothing, after all. Even bedridden, he couldn't underestimate him.

"Course not." Heiji told him, quirking a grin. "I'm bed bound fer a few days, an' suddenly everyone forgets that I'm a detective. Between you an' my old man, there's sure a lot of people sneakin' around me lately. Which leads me ta believe that there's _definitely_ somethin' goin' on, an' fer some reason, even though there's no way it doesn't involve me, fer some reason, none of ya are, well, _involving me_."

"Would it help if I told you that the matter's _really complicated_?" Shinichi offered, before heaving a sigh, running a hand through his hair, trying to figure out what to tell him. The truth? He had only just promised Heizo that he wouldn't tell him anything, and he didn't exactly want to go back on his words that quickly. Besides, what would the truth even do to Heiji in this situation? If he learned that they had no idea how to even stop his body's deterioration, that his body falling apart on him was almost like foretold destiny, what would that do to his ability to fight this?

Heiji was tough, but even strong people had their limits.

"It doesn't involve _those guys_ , does it?" Heiji asked, a more serious expression crossing his face. "I'm pretty sure I haven't taken any weird poisons or anythin' lately, if that's what yer wonderin' about, Kudo."

"It might have a bit to do with _them_ , but it's not that." Shinichi told him, shaking his head. "Even if does involve them, it's only vaguely at this point. Don't worry about that, Hattori. I'm pretty sure you haven't been poisoned either. If it had been that, Haibara would have picked up on it really easily."

"So what _did_ she pick up on?" Heiji asked, folding his arms over his chest, turning his head so that he could look straight at Shinichi. Briefly, he considered trying to sit up again, before he quickly dismissed the idea. As much as he hated to admit it, he didn't have the energy for that. Just staying awake and talking was taking everything he had right now. "Ya've neglected ta mention that ta me."

"Well that's..." Trailing of a little, Shinichi's eyes narrowed. "I'm not even sure where to begin."

"Well _that's_ never a good sign." Only half joking, Heiji rolled his eyes, shaking his head. "So what's the problem anyways, Kudo? Don't tell me ya found out that I'm secretly a space alien?" He asked, a broad grin breaking out on his face as he cracked a joke. "I've been tryin' ta keep that a secret all this time, ya know!"

Unable to help himself, Shinichi let out a quick snort. "That'd be news to me, Hattori. Good job, blabbermouth." Shaking his head, he ran a hand through his hair, smile fading a little as his thoughts once again returned to the matter at hand- what he was going to tell Heiji about his own situation. It _was_ true that right now, the only thing he really needed to focus on was staying alive- something that was doubtlessly a tall order on it's own. But didn't he also _deserve_ to know?

"Complicated, huh." Heiji broke the silence that had fallen between the two of them, turning his head to face the ceiling once more, closing his eyes. "Let me guess- my old man told ya not ta tell me anythin', huh?"

"He did." Shinichi admitted, a somewhat sheepish expression on his face. "Sorry, Hattori. I want to tell you about it myself but... maybe later. Right now, what you need to focus on is doing your very best to survive."

"Ya don't have ta tell me that much." Heiji noted, opening his eyes and turning his head back towards him. "Well, it might actually be a bit easier said than done this time round. I know enough ta know that my own situation isn't good, Kudo. I've got no illusions about that. Did that little Neechan figure out how much time I've got left?"

"Hattori-" Shinichi spoke up, but quickly shut his mouth again, heaving a long sigh. Forcing himself to keep looking at his friend, fighting the urge to avert his eyes from him, he swallowed. This too, he dissevered to know. "A month. According to Haibara's tests, you probably have a month left, if that."

"A month." Even though he'd asked for it, the blow was a little more than he was ready to take- he had hoped that maybe he had a little bit more time than that. Closing his eyes again, he placed a hand over his face, half trying to conceal what he knew was a less than cheerful expression. He couldn't show that sort of face anyone right now, not that he thought anyone would blame him for it. He already knew full well that he was dying- that for whatever reason, his body was shutting down on him- but to hear he had so little time...

There were so many things that he still had to do. He had only just finally managed to confess to Kazuha, after all. They hadn't even so much gone out on a proper date yet. And who was going to help Kudo out if he wasn't around? He couldn't let him face down that Organization without him, even if he knew that he'd be leaving his friend behind in capable hands. Not mention he would be letting down the kendo team- honestly, they didn't have a chance of getting past Okita without him. He wasn't nearly ready to die just yet. Not like this.

"Only a month, huh."

"Haibara's searching for a way." Shinichi said quickly, suddenly regretting telling him. "She's already back at the Professor's place, hard at work looking for a way to prevent that, Hattori. She has a way to slow it down for the moment in the works, but as for a more permanent solution..." His expression fell as he once again dwelt on what it was that the shrunken scientist had told him. Even if it was a way to save his life, it wouldn't be a _much_ of a life. "...that might take more time."

"Everyone's workin' real hard, huh?" Heiji asked, opening his eyes back up, staring up at the ceiling once more. He was already getting used to waking up to the stark white of the hospital room, which was sort of depressing in it's own right. "Well, I can't let all of ya down then. I have ta give it my all just the same. Whatever it is that yer not tellin' me right now, you'll tell me later, won't ya?"

"Provided you don't figure it out first." Shinichi told him, forcing himself to smile a little bit. He didn't understand how Heiji could remain positive even after hearing that- in the end, that was just the difference between the two of them, he guessed. "Well, I think that even for you, it might be a bit of a challenge."

"Well, we'll see about that." Heiji said, quirking a grin. "Ah, but that's right Kudo, while yer still here, there was one thing I wanted ta bring up with ya. I don't know if it has any relation ta anythin' or not, but lately, I've been havin' pretty weird dreams. Havin' dreams alone is odd in and of itself fer me, since I don't normally have, 'em, but these are..."

"Are what, Hattori?" Shinichi asked, eyes narrowing slightly. Somehow, he got the feeling that he knew what type of dreams they were. Old memories stirred up by all of the current events, from a time long forgotten. Perhaps if there was something that remained behind in those half forgotten memories, they might serve as a clue, but frankly, he got the feeling the feeling that was almost too much to hope for.

"Strange." Heiji said after a moment, narrowing his eyes. "I can't quite describe 'em. It's almost they're like somethin' I experienced a long time ago. My mom an' the old man are there, Kazuha too... a lot younger though. Not that I can actually understand anythin' anyone is sayin' in 'em. It all sounds like gibberish ta me." Lifting up a hand to scratch his cheek in part out of habit, he felt it tap up against the edge of his oxygen mask instead, and forced a sigh from his lungs, dropping his hand instead.

"Seriously though, Kudo, what is it that yer not tellin' me?" He asked again, turning his head back towards him, leveling as sharp a gaze towards him as he could manage under the circumstances.

"I'll tell you in due time, Hattori." Shinichi promised him, hoping that his expression didn't give too much away. It wouldn't be an easy conversation to have, even factoring in Heiji's own easygoing personality. Accepting something like the fact that you weren't like everyone else was a rather tall order, especially to the degree with which it was true in Heiji's case. "The important thing is that you're you, and that we all don't want to see you go anywhere."

"I guess that's true." Heiji said after a moment, turning his head back, feeling sleep tug at his eyelids once more. Shinichi's phrasing bothered him, but he couldn't manage to get his thoughts in order enough to dwell on it. "Sorry, Kudo. Ya went through the effort ta come all this way out here like this, but I'm already startin' ta get tired again. Some best friend I am."

"You don't need to apologize for something like that." Shinichi told him, shaking his head. "Sleep well, Hattori. I'll talk to you later."

Watching as his friend slowly closed his eyes once more, falling back into a deep sleep, Shinichi finally let out the breath that he had been holding all this time. Gaze trailing down towards Heiji's hand, the one where the charm Kazuha had made for him was still twined about his wrist, he narrowed his eyes, wondering what they were going to do. Was it really possible to save him at this point? If his body was breaking down because it wasn't meant to last, were all their efforts just going to be in vain? Was Kawaguchi Souma even still really alive? And even if he was, would he _really_ help him?

He had been willing to condemn Heiji- and six others with his same face- to death in the first place, back before his friend had even been known by such a name. If he learned that one of them had survived, would he really care? Or would Heiji just be another research sample to him?

He really didn't like not having the answers to these questions. He could only hope that Subaru would turn up something on his end, that Ai would hurry up and develop a working stabilizing agent.

At any rate, there was nothing more he could do here, he thought to himself, watching Heiji's sleeping form. Heaving a long sigh, dimly aware that the freedom that he had to do so without struggle was not something his friend possessed at the moment, Shinichi cast him one last long look, before he turned on his heel, exiting the room. No sooner than he had, did he find Kazuha almost in his face, a rather expectant look in her eyes.

"Well? How is he?" Kazuha asked, a note of worry evident in her voice, etched into her features, written in her eyes- and she wasn't alone in that. It was a shadow cast over everyone lately, even himself, he knew. That much became obvious as he checked out his reflection in the mirror early that morning, checking to make sure he really had properly returned to being Kudo Shinichi.

"At the very least, it doesn't appear that he's gotten much worse, compared to what Conan-kun told me before." Shinichi told her, shaking his head, briefly sparing a glance over towards Ran, who was hovering just behind the Osakan girl. "I never thought that something like this would happen. How are you holding up, Kazuha-chan?"

"Somehow or another, I'm holdin' up." Kazuha admitted after a moment, suddenly seeming to realize that she had overstepped his physical boundaries a little, and withdrew herself. "Did Heiji already go back ta sleep?"

"Yeah. Sorry." Giving her a quick apology, Shinichi couldn't help but frown. He had always wanted the two of them to finally get over their own issues and get together- but he hadn't wanted it to be like _this_. He could only hope that the two of them could still manage to find some kind of happiness together, even now. At least the words had finally been said. "I ended up taking up all of his time. Ah, but you can go in now if you want, Kazuha-chan." Suddenly realizing he was blocking the door, Shinichi stepped aside, holding it open with one hand for her.

"Then, I will." With a quick nod of her head, Kazuha ducked into Heiji's hospital room. Sliding the door shut behind her, she left Shinichi and Ran together in the hallway. For a moment, something of an awkward silence fell between them, before they both broke it at the same time, the other's name being the first thing on their lips.

"Ah, sorry." Shinichi said quickly. "Go on, Ran."

"I'm glad that you came, Shinichi." Ran said finally, her smile carrying a rather somber note to it. She almost wasn't sure that he would- he could be so hard to get into touch with in person these days, that sometimes it felt as if he had vanished off the face of the planet entirely. "Are you going to be staying here for awhile?"

"I'd _like_ to." Shinichi said finally, his own words resting heavy on him. It wasn't something that he liked saying- but he only had twenty-four hours or so of time in this form. It wouldn't do him any good if he kept using the antidote over and over again, as much as he wanted to, now more than ever. "But I can't stay, Ran. There's something that I need to look into elsewhere. I'm really sorry."

"Hattori-kun's the one you should be apologizing to now, Shinichi, not me." Ran said, narrowing her eyes, a sharper tone to her voice than she would have liked. "He's in a state like this, and you're..." Shaking her head, she looked up at him, locking eyes with him and refusing to budge. "You're just going to leave him like this? He thinks of you as his best friend, you know."

"I know. Believe me Ran, I know that much." Shinichi told her, not looking away from her. He knew full well what this must have looked like to people who were outsiders to his own situation- people who didn't know his secret. It felt an awful lot like he was just abandoning his best friend as he lay on his death bed, and frankly, he couldn't blame anyone if they wanted to be angry at him. "But I'm not just going away on _any_ case now. There's..."

Trailing off a little, he took in and let out a deep breath, steeling himself for what lay ahead of him. Even with the assistance of both Hattori Heizo and Akai Shuichi, he doubted that this was going to be a matter that was easy to resolve. After all, if no one had seen or heard from Kawaguchi Souma ever since that accident, even if he was still alive, it probably wouldn't be easy to find him.

And they were running on extremely limited time.

"...There's something that I think I can do for Hattori right now. But it might require me to leave Tokyo in order to do it. Possibly leave Japan entirely. There's someone I have to find, no matter what." He told her after a moment, a serious expression on his face. Watching as Ran's own expression transformed to that of confusion, not quite understanding the meaning of his words, he gave her a small smile. "It's not something that I can talk about freely just yet. I haven't even told _Hattori_ the details just yet, so I don't feel right telling anyone else before him."

"Is his situation that serious?" Ran asked, her voice barely coming out as a whisper. "I heard from Kazuha-chan that he's..." Unable to say it out loud, she turned her gaze away from him, her voice dying in her throat, words going unspoken. "I don't see how a detective can help in this situation, unless you're searching for one hell of a doctor, Shinichi. Either that, or a miracle worker."

"I'm looking for a bit of both, actually, as it turns out." Shinichi managed to crack, reaching out and pulling her close. "Right now, we both need to do what we can. And for you, that's staying by Kazuha-chan's side, right? She needs someone steady by her side to help hold her together. But at the same time, don't forget to look after yourself either, Ran."

Taking in and letting out a deep breath, Ran turned to face him again, her eyes meeting with those familiar blue ones that she knew so well, even though she felt as if she hadn't seen them in ages. "Take care of yourself as well, Shinichi. I'll handle things here."

"I know you will." Giving her a small smile, Shinichi dropped his hands away from her shoulders- now wasn't the time to do much more than this. It wouldn't be right, not now. "I have to get going, Ran. If anything comes up, you know my phone number."

"I will." Knowing without needing to be told that he meant to call him in the event that Heiji's condition suddenly took a turn for the worse, Ran felt her gut tighten at making such a promise. "I hope that you can find the person you're looking for, Shinichi."

"Me too."

* * *

"We already told the police everything we knew fifteen years ago, I don't see what good it does to come question us about our daughter now."

Given the circumstances surrounding his daughter's untimely death, somehow Subaru wasn't all that surprised to find out that Makino Suzume's father, Makino Fujioka, wasn't in any hurry to speak with him. If anything, he looked about ready to slam the door in his face at the first sign of trouble, and for a brief moment, it was almost enough for him to want to bring up his connection to the FBI to get his foot in the door.

But of course, he wouldn't do something that risky. There was another method, after all.

"I'm certain you're very tired of answering questions about your late daughter, Makino-san." Subaru's tone was the picture of politeness, drawing from every bit of etiquette that he knew, everything from tone to posture. "But right now, it's important that you answer _my_ questions. I can't get into the details, I'm afraid, but there's someone whose life might now be riding on your answers."

That was more than enough to give the older man pause, and for a moment, he stood there, carefully assessing the younger man who stood before him. Narrowing his eyes, he finally heaved a long sigh, stepping back and opening up the door all the way. "Very well. I suppose if it's that urgent, I can endure a few more questions. I do hope you're not just lying to get inside, mister..."

"Subaru. Okiya Subaru." Flawlessly introducing himself, having long since gotten used to the new alias, Subaru accepted his invitation and entered the Makino apartment. Right away, his gaze drifted towards the altar that had been set up in the corner of the living room. "And I can assure you, Makino-san, I haven't spoken a lie to you yet."

Other than that of his name, at the very least. But Akai Shuichi was a dead man, and dead men had no business doing any number of things, much less investigating the whereabouts of _another_ potentially dead man.

"Please take a seat." The man said, all but collapsing on the couch himself. It had been fifteen years since the death of his daughter, but it was quite clear that he had never fully gotten over it. Given the circumstances, it was to be expected. "I'm not offering you any tea, though. I'm going to be frank with you here, Okiya-san- I know a little bit about what it is that my daughter might have been involved in, so I'm going to ask you straight out- who is this person whose life is in danger?"

"Someone that I believe your daughter might have given her own life for." Subaru tactfully replied. "Any more than that, I cannot say. Privacy issues, you see."

"It's not that bastard who hired her in the first place, is it?" Fujioka asked, his eyes narrowing sharply. "If it's him, I've got nothing more to say to you."

"I can assure you that it's not." Subaru said, shaking his head. "We're actually searching for him right now as well."

"So that bastard's _really_ still alive." Fujioka muttered, vivid anger flashing through his eyes. "You're not surely going to tell me that they actually succeeded in _making_ one of those things, are you? Or let me guess," leaning back against the couch, he cast the still standing Subaru another assessing look. "You can't tell me that either."

"That would be correct." Subaru told him, giving him a firm nod of his head. "As I have said before, in the interest of the parties involved, I can't give away anything more than I already have, Makino-san."

"I figured as much." Grumbling to himself for a moment, Fujioka eventually stood up, seeming to have come to some sort of decision. "Wait right there. There's something I think that you need to take a look at."

With a slight frown, Subaru watched as the man retreated back towards one of the bedrooms. When he emerged a few minutes later, he had a large paper envelope tucked underneath one arm, which had already started to turn yellow with age. Narrowing his eyes at it's presence, he soon found it thrust towards him, a rather expectant look on the face of the elderly man.

"Here." Fujioka said, shoving it a bit closer towards him. "Three weeks after the police stopped by here, this showed up in the mail. The return address was from my daughter's residence in Osaka, from when she was living there. That said, I only found out that it was her address after the fact. If I didn't recognize her handwriting, I would have thrown it away."

Taking the faded envelope from the man, Subaru carefully glanced down at it, quickly noting that he was correct. The return address listed on the envelope was in fact the residence that Makino Suzume appeared to have been living at when she was in Osaka- but if the envelope had shown up at her parent's place three weeks after the police came to question them, then who on earth sent it?

"Have you opened it?" Subaru asked.

" _Hell no_." Fujioka said, shaking his head. "I loved my daughter, Okiya-san, but whatever it was she was involved in, I want _nothing_ to do with it. I don't know a thing more than I already told that Hattori fellow who came knocking around her fifteen years ago, but there's a chance that whatever it is that you're looking for, it might be in here."

"Are you certain it's wise to give something that could be so important over to me?" Subaru asked after a moment, now rather carefully assessing the time worn man in front of him.

"You want me to take it back?" Fujioka asked, quirking a brow, before shaking a head. "No, it's fine. If you came here claiming that someone's life is at risk that's got some connection to my daughter's death, I figure it's best that I give that to you. I've held onto it all this time, and frankly, I'll just be glad to see the damn thing leave my house."

"I see. In that case, I will gratefully accept it." Subaru told him, tucking the envelope underneath his arm. "I thank you for your time, Makino-san." Pausing for a moment, his gaze trailed over towards the altar, catching a hint of freshly burnt incense wafting through the room. "And I'm sorry for your loss, for what it's worth."

"Apologies don't bring back the dead, Okiya-san." Fujioka told him, his expression all but set in stone.

"No." Subaru said after a moment. "I suppose they don't."

* * *

"Figure anything out yet, Haibara?"

"I'm still working on it." Barely even sparing Shinichi so much as a glance, Ai continued typing away, her eyes narrowing as she once more ran through the latest simulation in her head. If she wasn't careful, and recklessly gave Heiji the first potentially viable thing that she produced without first testing, it might only run the risk of making his condition even worse. She couldn't afford to be careless. "How did things go on your end? Were you able to speak with Hattori-kun's father?"

"Yeah." Shinichi told her, nodding his head. "It seems like your theory was completely right. I still can't believe it."

"Did you tell him?" Ai asked, leaning back her chair, scanning the compound that she had written out, before heaving a slight sigh. No, that wouldn't work. But maybe if she switched out that for this... That _might_ work. "Hattori-kun, that is."

"No." Shinichi said, shaking his head. "Not yet. His father told me not to tell him anything for the time being, and it's kind of hard to bring up to the actual person himself." He admitted, heaving a long sigh. For the moment, all he could do at this second was either wait for contact from Subaru, or wait for Ai to finish a viable stabilizing agent- even though he was anxious to get out there and do more. He didn't like feeling useless- that was something he had already come to understand during his time as Conan, but current events were hammering that home to him even more.

"I keep seeing Kawaguchi-san's face when I look at him. I don't like that." Shinichi confessed, narrowing his eyes.

"It's probably only temporary." Ai noted, only now sparing him a look. "Since you've just learned something of this nature, it's naturally a shock to you, so you can't help but associate the two of them. Over time, such a reaction will probably fade."

"You're into psychology now?" Shinichi couldn't help but ask. "Is there anything I can do to help, Haibara? Until Subaru-san gets back, there's nothing much I can do." Although now that he thought about it, there was no way that he could meet Subaru looking like this- even if he was fairly certain now that he knew the truth. Well, he'd decide what to do when that time.

"Sometimes I read up on that sort of thing, yes." Ai told him, eyes narrowing as the simulation didn't provide her with quite the results that she wanted. She had the feeling she was getting close, however. "Unfortunately, I don't think there's anything much that you can do to assist me Kudo-kun, though I appreciate the offer. This is my territory, after all."

Well, that was pretty much the answer that he had expected.

"If you want to do something though, I believe that Kawaguchi Souma had a younger sister." Ai noted, pausing for just a moment to turn back around. "Well, she's pretty much hidden herself from the limelight considering her brother's infamy, but she's his only living relative. There's a chance that she might have heard something from him."

"A younger sister?" Shinichi blinked, getting to his feet. "Does she live in Japan?"

"I don't know." Ai admitted, shaking her head. "But it's worth looking into, Kudo-kun. Well, given her brother's reputation, and the things she seems to have gone to disappear from the spotlight herself, I doubt that she has a good relationship with him."

"Still, it's worth a look, like you said." With a firm nod of his head, Shinichi gave her a quick smile. "I'm going to borrow the Professor's computer to do so some searching, Haibara. Hopefully I'll turn up a hit."

"Be sure to take the Professor himself with you if you do go chasing after her. It would be bad if you suddenly turned back into Conan without anyone around to help you." Ai noted. "Well, provided she still lives in the country, that is. Considering that they lived in America for some time, it's also possible that she might still be living there."

"Let's hope she's not." With that comment, Shinichi set himself to work.

* * *

"It feels like I haven't seen ya in awhile, old man."

His father was so quiet, that for a moment, Heiji thought he had woken up to a completely empty room. It was only when he turned his head to check that he realized that wasn't the case, and that his father, as stern faced as always, was looking down at him. Although he didn't quite feel like he had the energy for it, Heiji forced himself up into a sitting position, not missing the vague way that Heizo's hands seemed to twitch, as if he half thought about assisting him.

"I do seem to keep missing you when you're actually awake, Heiji." Heizo noted, carefully looking over his son. His color had gotten worse since he had last seen him, and as he thought, his breathing really was getting more strained. If it got much worse than this, he was worried that the doctors might have to take a more invasive approach to keep him breathing properly.

Even when he had been a child, unable to do anything for himself, Heizo had never seen Heiji this weak before. It didn't sit right with him. Shinichi had told him, after some pressing, that his very reliable scientist had informed him that Heiji likely only had around a month left- and even though he had been expecting something like that ever since the doctor had told him his son was dying, it had taken him a moment to recover after hearing such a thing out loud. Even as much as he wanted to deny it, in the back of his mind, he couldn't shake the thought that everything that they were trying to do now was in vain. That there was nothing they could do to save Heiji's life now- that was his fate.

He wouldn't even be able to make it to his eighteenth birthday.

Perhaps he was even younger than that, really. There were too many unknown factors as to how he was created in the first place- and he cursed himself for not looking harder for such vital information in the past. Once Heiji himself had started to forget his own origins, Heizo had set aside the investigation that had still been ongoing for him ever since they day they pulled him out from the rubble.

That had been a mistake, and his son was paying dearly for it now.

 _Created_. Not _born_. It was a truth Heiji was better off not knowing for the rest of his life- even if that life only lasted for another month. If he wasn't going to make it, it was better that he die believing the lie that they had built up around him, rather than knowing the truth.

But it was still too early to be thinking of such dismal things.

"I'm actually doin' it on purpose." Heiji found himself joking, quirking a grin. "If I see such a dour lookin' face, I'm definitely only gonna get sicker." At the sharp glare his words earned him, one that he knew so well, his grin only grew all the wider. Honestly, every single one of them was acting as if he was already dead- more than anything, he couldn't stand this kind of atmosphere. He might a patient, but there was no need to tiptoe around him like one.

"Your mother is worried about you, Heiji." Heizo stated, deciding not to respond to his comment, to the very clear annoyance of his son. In it's own way, the fact that his usual personality hadn't change at all in spite of the circumstances was quite reassuring. "How are you feeling?"

" _Just_ mom?" Heiji asked, meeting his father's eyes, a slightly mirthful note to his voice. His father might be acting as he always was, but judging from the bags underneath his eyes, he was just as worried about him as anyone else. It was touching, really. "Well, I'm still alive, at least. Gonna keep at that, since there's not much else fer me ta do here."

"I suppose that there isn't." Heizo observed, glancing over towards the window, the curtains still as tightly drawn as they were when Heiji had first been brought in here. "Would you care for me to open the curtains?"

"Oh, that would be great!" Heiji told him, flashing him a wide grin. "It's gettin' kind of borin' just lookin' at the walls all the time. Well, not that I'm awake that much these days."

Giving his son a rather non-committal response, Heizo moved behind his bed, pulling open the curtains. A rather nice view of the hospital's courtyard was revealed as he did so, and briefly, he once again recalled the way that Kazuha had plead with the doctors to see if there was any way she could take Heiji out into the courtyard yesterday. He wondered why it was that the memory stuck out to him so much- perhaps there wasn't any real reason, though.

Perhaps he was just unused to seeing his son so _still_. Ever since he had learned to run- no, even before then, ever since he had learned to walk, he almost always seemed to be on the move. Even after he had learned to talk, he sometimes still wouldn't tell them where he was going half of the time, leaving them trailing behind. It had caused Shizuka quite a bit of trouble the first few months, especially once he started to allow her to take the boy outside of their house, the commotion surrounding the lab explosion slowly starting to fade from the public mind.

When Heiji had first started to gain fame as a high school detective, beginning to be noticed by newspapers, Heizo had held his breath, almost waiting for someone to draw the connection between him and the missing researcher, who he looked far too much like to be a mere coincidence. It had never happened, however, and for that, he was thankful.

"Well, at least I've got a room with a view." Heiji joked, turning his head so that he could take a good look at it. "Thanks, old man."

As another silence fell between them, Heiji turned his gaze slightly back towards his father, just making out his figure illuminated against the setting sun. An entire day had almost about passed again, it seemed- it had slipped away from him like it was nothing. He was starting to lose track of time completely, living like this. He didn't even have the time to be disorientated by it.

"I overheard the doctors sayin' somethin', ya know." Heiji said finally, turning his gaze back towards the window. "Though frankly, I wasn't all that shocked by it. I've been suspectin' as much fer awhile now."

"And what would that be?" Heizo asked, turning back to face him, one eye opening to carefully look at his son. Given that they didn't look that much alike to begin with, it was a miracle that nobody had ever so much as questioned their relation. This child who had only shown up in their lives at three years old- there might have been some people at first, but as time passed, such thoughts were forgotten.

"That you an' I aren't related by blood." Heiji told him, not shifting his gaze away from the window. "Naturally, I'm not related ta mom either. They were complainin' about how not knowin' who my real parents was givin' them so much trouble. Probably thought I was still asleep."

"I see." Letting the slightest of sighs escape from him, Heizo too, turned to look out the window. At the very least, this, was something he could talk about right now. The rest of it... that could wait. Perhaps forever, if need be. "We didn't mean to keep it from you forever, Heiji. It just happened that way. Your mother was never able to bare any children of her own, in the end."

"I did always wonder why I never had any siblings." Heiji noted, letting out a slight snort. "Given how much mom likes children. I would have thought I would have a bunch of siblings runnin' around. But I guess that explains it."

"It doesn't change the fact that we're a family." The line was almost unlike the stern, strict farther that Heiji had come to know over the years- and yet, it still wasn't out of character for him at all. At his core, he knew that his father only ever did what he thought was best for him- even if they didn't always agree on that matter. "You are my son, Heiji."

"I know." Heiji said simply, closing his eyes. "Ya don't have ta tell me somethin' like that, old man. But it has somethin' ta do with it, doesn't it? That's what ya've been so busy doin, right? You an' Kudo, I guess, given the visit that he paid me this afternoon. Ya've been tryin' to track down my blood related family, right?"

"Yes." Heizo admitted, nodding his head. It wasn't a lie. Kawaguchi Souma really was related to Heiji by blood- even though what they had were blood ties far beyond that of any father and son. "That we have. He's a bright young man, your friend."

Of course his father would compliment Kudo that freely, when he had to struggle for the smallest bit of praise from him, Heiji thought to himself. He was always like that. He was always worried about him getting too full of himself, or something like that.

Turning back towards Heiji, Heizo opened his mouth to make another comment- before he quickly shut it, an almost startled look crossing his otherwise stoic face. "Heiji." He began slowly, wondering if the boy had even so much as noticed. "You're bleeding."

"Eh?" Blinking slightly, he slowly followed his father's line of vision, raising a hand up to his face. Pulling it away from just underneath his nose, he didn't miss the vivid red color that stood out against his dark skin. A nosebleed.

That... probably wasn't good.


	8. Coma

AN: What a great chapter that I wrote that also made me cry while I was writing it. Why do I do this to myself. Why must I punish myself in this way. What sins am I paying for. We just don't know- but in any case, the next chapter is here! It's quite the doozy, if I say so myself! As always, thanks for reading, and please leave a review if you can!

Until next time!

* * *

 **Collapse**

 **Chapter Eight**

 **Coma**

* * *

One drink was all that he allowed himself. Although he wasn't the type to get drunk all that easily, he needed most of his senses about him for this.

Sitting in front of him, still unopened, was the worn out envelope that he had received from Makino Suzume's father, faint, rather girlish handwriting just barely visible on it. Picking up his glass with a frown, Subaru took a long drink from it, before setting it aside for the time being. He knew the moment that he turned the envelope over to Conan, he would most likely never see it again- so he needed to take a look at the contents of it himself first.

Naturally, he would avoid someone dying if there was anything he could do about it, but at the end of the day, he was still an FBI agent. He knew full well that around that time, the Organization had their eyes on Kawaguchi Souma, so on the off chance that this envelope contained any information about them, even information that was now fifteen years out of date, it was vital that he know it.

Turning the large envelope over, he carefully opened it up. Holding it aloft so that it's contents slid out onto the kitchen table, he set the envelope itself aside for the moment. Conan probably wouldn't be happy with him to see that he had already opened it, but he would have done the same thing if he were in his shoes, doubtlessly.

Stuffed within the envelope was practically a treasure trove of documents- even someone who wasn't nearly as well versed in science as the one who had written them could tell that much. Thankfully they had been spared from the same aging process that the envelope had taken, leaving the pages in good condition. Going through page after page of them, his eyes scanned the information laid out on them, spelling out exactly what had been going on in that lab in a way he got the feeling that Haibara Ai was far more likely to understand than he ever would.

But it was confirmation that what was simply a very strong theory at the moment- that the lab really had been used to create clones. He'd received a call from Conan on his way back to Tokyo that confirmed the fact that the son of Hattori Heizo really had been found in that place, as it's only survivor. Putting those two pieces of information together, an undeniable truth emerged from it- that Hattori Heiji really was a clone.

It was surreal, something straight out of a science fiction novel, but then again, so were humans that shrunk, and apparently, he'd been dealing with those recently. It might become something of a problem for him should Conan ever recall _that_ memory- but that was a problem for another time, and was neither here nor there.

This was doubtlessly, Makino Suzume's research data. Although it's existence was reassuring, it raised questions all the same. For what reason had she made copies of it, taking what was doubtlessly a great risk to do so? Exactly who was it that she had entrusted the envelope to, and why had she done so in the first place? Had she perhaps been aware that something was about to happen? Given the timing of the explosion, his instincts told him that there was a chance that _they_ might very well be more deeply involved with this than he had first suspected.

Had they been behind the explosion at the lab? Or had the explosion at the lab been the work of Kawaguchi Souma, trying to prevent his research from falling into their hands? If it was the latter, he couldn't approve of the man's methods. Too many lives were lost on that day, including those who had no chance to ever do anything wrong- other than to exist, he was sure that some would doubtlessly say.

But he wasn't here for the moral quandaries of human cloning, nor of the growing of artificial humans. He was here to do his job- and to pay back a favor to the one who had saved his life.

Gathering together all of the papers, Subaru stacked them neatly, setting them aside. He would deliver them next door post haste, as soon as he had a chance to look at the only other thing the envelope had contained- a worn, beaten up looking notebook, about the size of the palm of his hand. Carefully opening it up and flipping through the first few pages, eyes scanning the passages written in the same girlish handwriting that the envelope's address had been written in, the faintest of smiles crept it's way onto his face, as he carefully closed it.

This wasn't for him to read, and he doubted it contained any relevant information. Nor was it for Conan to read. There was only one person for whom this notebook was meant for now- and from what he understood, he was in no condition to do so now. It could be brought to him later, at such a time when he came to know the truth. Setting it aside, he gathered up the rest of the papers, slipping them back into the envelope. Picking up the small notebook, he carefully opened up one of the kitchen drawers, carefully tucking it underneath the napkins for the time being.

It was terribly rude, after all, to read a girl's diary. Even though he was an FBI agent, he _did_ possess some form of tact.

Tucking the envelope underneath his arm, Subaru ever so slightly pulled down his collar, pressing a button on his voice changer to switch it on. Tucking on his shoes at the front door, he headed over next door, ringing the doorbell to the Professor's place. It would be faster and more useful to pass this information directly to that girl, than it would be to try and track down Conan and give it to him. After a moment of silence, he could faintly hear a response from the young girl who lived with the Professor, telling him that she would be there in just a moment.

Sure enough, when she opened the door, she already had a rather suspicious expression on her face, doubtlessly wondering what it was that he wanted. If she had been told about what he had headed out to do by Conan, it had either slipped her mind, or she didn't think anything would have come out of it to begin with. "What do you want? I'm a bit busy now."

Given her attitude, he could guess that she wasn't having much luck on whatever it was that she was working on. Given who he suspected her to be, there was no way that Conan wasn't making use of her considerable talents at a time like this. Still, it was better if she didn't know he knew that about her- to some extent, he would like her to trust her, even if he'd been instructed to not inform her what his intentions were towards her.

He questioned that decision somewhat, but for the moment, he would comply with it.

"I have something I need to deliver to Conan-kun." Subaru said simply, slipping the envelope from out underneath his arm. "When I visited the residence of the parents of one of the researchers from that lab, he gave me this, and said that it had been sent to him a bit after that incident occurred. It seems to contain some rather relevant information, if you'd like to take a peek at it yourself first."

Narrowing her eyes a little, Ai carefully accepted the envelope from him, opening it back up again and pulling out the papers contained within. No sooner than she had, a look of understanding crossed her face, her eyes going wide as she all but yanked them all the way out of the battered envelope, eyes furiously scanning every line, every page, flipping through them page by page, seemingly having almost forgotten his presence there. It was only when he cleared his throat that she suddenly remembered, and looked back up towards him with a start.

Unlike Conan would, she made no attempt to mask her odd behavior, instead choosing to tuck the papers underneath one arm.

"It does seem like it would be useful." Ai said simply, a rather impassive expression setting itself on her face. "Unfortunately, Edogawa-kun just left. He had another lead that he wanted to pursue." For a moment, she considered telling him that he had taken the Professor with him, but she would rather this man not know that she was alone in the house right now. Even if he was helping them with this, that didn't mean he was someone trustworthy.

"I'll past it on to him as soon as he gets back, though." Ai told him simply, taking a slight step back, as if to put herself out of the range of his arms, hand hovering just over the doorknob. "Are you certain that you're not a detective yourself, Okiya-san?"

"Well, I suppose that I am a bit like one." Subaru admitted freely, giving her something of a tight smile. "But I can assure you that I'm nothing more than a simple grad student. I simply owe that boy a favor for finding me such a nice place to live, and rent free at that."

"Oh, is that so?" Ai asked simply, raising her brows, not believing what he was saying for even a second. There was no way this guy was normal, even putting aside that aura that she could sense from him from time to time. If he had deduction abilities on par with those of Conan's, there was no way he was.

Well, whatever the case, she didn't have the time for this. He was right about what was contained within the worn envelope being important- there were nothing short of the research notes that she had been looking for, the very key that she needed to start unraveling this case from her end. Now that these had fallen into her hands, there was no time to waste.

"Well, thank you, Okiya-san. I'll be sure to pass these on to him." Ai said shortly, taking another step back, and all but shutting the door on his face, making sure to lock it right afterwards. Listening for a moment, she breathed a slight sigh as she heard him take a few steps back, heading out the way he had come. Pulling out the papers from underneath her arm, Ai scanned them again, before nodding her head, turning on her heel to head for the lab.

With this, she could finally fight back. Armed with such knowledge, there was no way that she wouldn't be able to create a stabilizing agent that could at the very least, prevent Heiji's impending demise, and keep his condition from getting much worse.

It wasn't a cure. But it was a start.

For the moment, it would do.

* * *

By the time Kazuha had made her way back to Heiji's hospital room, nearly out of breath, it had already been closed off to visitors, a near endless stream of doctors flowing in and out of it. She had just headed back to her hotel room for a quick nap, when she had been woken up by a phone call from Heiji's father, informing her that Heiji's condition had once more taken a turn for the worse, and that she should head over here right away. Arriving to see both his father and mother waiting outside of his room, his mother chewing on her nail in distinct worry, she quickly approached them.

"What happened?" Kazuha asked, taking a moment to catch her breath. "Is Heiji alright?"

"His nose suddenly started bleeding around thirty minutes ago, and refused to stop." Heizo noted, turning to look over at her. "Since then, Shizuka and I haven't been able to enter his hospital room, and we haven't gotten any answers from the doctors either." Judging from their behavior alone, he knew that it was something serious though.

"That can't be... he wasn't doin' that poorly earlier." Kazuha said, feeling her heart all but lurch in her chest, thoughts chasing themselves around in her head as she went over endless possibilities as to what could be wrong, all of them taking a turn for the negative. "He's gonna be alright, though, right? Isn't he?"

She was half pleading more than asking, she knew that much. But even with the death sentence looming over his head, she thought that he had a little bit more time with him than this. It had barely even been a few days!

"The doctors don't think his life is in immediate danger from this." Shizuka spoke up, placing a hand on her shoulder, steeling herself to become her strength, even in the middle of her own trail. "He still has more time, Kazuha. Don't fear."

Slowly nodding her head, Kazuha swallowed back her anxieties, trying to still her racing heart. Once again, she couldn't help but be struck with the unfairness of the situation- what had Heiji ever done so wrong to deserve to go through something like this? Sure, he could be a bit inconsiderate of other people's feeling sometimes, and he could be amazingly dense about some things, but he was a good person. Good people didn't deserve to go through things like this.

Or at least, that was what she believed.

"I see. That's good." Kazuha finally said, letting out a deep breath, her shoulders slumping. Taking a seat on the nearest bench, half feeling her legs giving out at her due to the sudden feeling of relief, she placed a hand over her heart, closing her eyes. He still had more time. There was still more time to figure out a way to save him.

Thank god.

"May I speak with you for a moment, Hattori-san?" Glancing up as the head doctor finally emerged from Heiji's room, Kazuha nearly sprung to her feet once more. She didn't like the rather grave expression on the woman's face one bit. "I suppose you should hear this as well, Toyama-san."

"What is it?" Kazuha asked, taking a few quick steps forward, all but thrusting herself in the woman's face, before she remembered tact, and took a few steps back, calming herself. "What's goin' on with Heiji now?"

"As I said before, I don't believe his life is in immediate danger." The doctor, Akiko, began telling them. "For the moment, we've managed to stop his bleeding. However I believe the ultimate cause of it was strain on his body, most likely caused by using up energy that he just doesn't have."

"Strain?" Kazuha asked, her brows knitting together, not understanding her. "But Heiji hasn't even done anythin' since he's gotten here! I don't understand how he could have done anythin' ta strain his body."

"Unfortunately, we believe that simply being awake and chatting with people was more than enough to strain him in his condition." Akiko told them, a stern expression on her face as she watched those words sink into them. "From here on out, it might even get worse the longer he spends awake. I believe it would be in his best interests for the moment to do what we can to reduce that strain."

"And what are you proposing _exactly_ , doctor?" Heizo's rather stern tone was almost enough to cause her to want to take back her words, but instead, she pressed forward.

"I'm proposing that we temporarily put your son into a medically induced coma." Akiko told them frankly, glancing between the Hattori couple, before sparing another glance for the girl she had been told was his childhood friend. "I believe it would be for the best. We can't risk his condition suddenly getting worse than it already is because he's exerting too much energy on other tasks."

"That's not..." Kazuha trailed off, words failing her for the moment. "Isn't there another way? Aren't there risks ta that?"

"There are some." Akiko admitted with a nod of her head. "But I still believe it would be the best course of action at the moment. I wouldn't suggest if I believed it wasn't."

Exchanging a glance with his wife, Heizo finally turned back to the doctor, slowly inclining his head. "Very well, doctor. We'll trust your instincts on this."

"But Uncle Heizo-!" Kazuha began, turning back towards him, her eyes going wide.

"I understand how you feel, Kazuha-san." Heizo said simply, resting a firm hand on her shoulder, trying to steady the girl. "But right now, this is what's best for Heiji. We can only have faith in the doctors."

And whoever this extremely reliable scientist was that Kudo Shinichi had told him about. He had promised to contact him via phone if he had more information about from her, but thus far, he hadn't gotten a single mail, much less a phone call in regards to that. Still, he didn't doubt the young man's words. He knew what that look in his eyes was when he had met him- that was the expression of a friend who wanted to do whatever they could to save their friend's life.

An expression that mirrored itself in Kazuha's eyes.

"That can't be..." Trailing off again, Kazuha shook her head, taking a step back. She was being unreasonable right now, she understood that full well- but she couldn't help it! "Then, what if he doesn't get better? What if they can't figure out what's wrong with him? What if they can't save him!? What then? Will we not even be able ta so much as say goodbye ta him!? Is this goin' ta be it!?"

"If it comes to that, we'll do our best to try and wake him up, so that he can have his last moments with his friends and family." The doctor softly promised her, forcing out words that never got any easier to say. "I'm sorry. I know this isn't an easy thing to face."

"Ya don't know _anythin_ '!" Kazuha spat out, lashing out in what she knew was entirely misdirected anger. She had gone too far. She didn't doubt that the doctors were trying their hardest, working around the clock to find some way to save him, to figure out what was wrong. Recoiling from her own words, she took a step back, slipping away from Heizo's grasp. "I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. Just... give me a second, okay?"

"We don't have any seconds to spare, Toyama-san." Akiko told her frankly, even as she felt sympathy for the girl. This wasn't easy for someone of her age to bear. It never was. "The sooner the decision is made, the better."

"...Fine." Kazuha's voice came out as nothing more than a whisper, feeling her nails bite into her skin as she balled them into tight fists. "Alright. Do it."

"Then." Bowing her head to them, Akiko quickly retreated back into Heiji's hospital room, leaving behind those who doubtlessly cared about him the most.

Sometimes, the job wasn't easy.

* * *

"I'm sorry, I don't know where my brother is."

Finding Kawaguchi Souma's younger sister, whose name turned out to be Kawaguchi Sora, wasn't actually that hard. Once he had started to do some digging, her name turned up almost right away. She had changed back to her mother's maiden name since her brother had become infamous, making her name Terajima Sora instead, but beyond that, she hadn't done much else to hide herself.

Other than living all the way out in a remote rural village in Hokkaido, at least, where people were unlikely to seek her out. He had barely been able to catch the earliest flight out with the Professor, the two of them making what amounted to a mad dash for the airport. They had only spared just enough time to pick up some of Conan's clothes and a bag to keep them in, just in case. The village had no cellphone service, which made him more than a little nervous, so he wanted to wrap this up as quickly as he could. If Heiji's condition were to take a turn for the worse while he was gone...

No, he couldn't think that way.

Dark skin, dark hair that was steadily turning gray with age, and blue eyes with long eyelashes. It was far more natural family resemblance that she bore to Heiji, a relative she most likely would have never known that she had, under other circumstances. Living all the way out here, and shutting herself off to the news, it was no wonder that she had never taken notice of the high school detective who wore the same face as her older brother had when he was around Heiji's age.

He supposed, rather than being his aunt, she would actually be his sister, since he shared DNA with that of her older brother. But that was a bit hard for him to process, and thus, he mentally found himself filing this woman away as Heiji's aunt.

Once they had made it clear that they weren't with the media, Terajima Sora had turned out to be a rather pleasant woman, quickly inviting the pair of them into her home, and making them some tea, even going so far as preparing them some snacks. Really, he felt a bit bad about eating shortcake while Heiji was fighting for his life back in Tokyo, but Shinichi couldn't shake the feeling that it would be bad of him to refuse. He got the impression that she didn't get many visitors, and while it was most likely that way on purpose, she also seemed to be fairly social, and was no doubt suffering in her own way from it.

"Really?" Shinichi asked, a deep set frown crossing his features. "You don't have any clues?"

"No." Sora told him, shaking her head. "In the first few years after he disappeared from the public, I still had some contact with him." She admitted. "But after that incident in Osaka, I haven't heard anything from him sense. Well, I also ran all the way out here after such a thing happened, so frankly, if he tried to get into contact with me after that, I wouldn't have even known."

"Besides, after mother killed herself after that incident, I haven't wanted to have anything to do with him." Closing her eyes, she set down her teacup, a look of pain crossing her features. "I don't want to speak badly of my own brother, but there was something wrong with him from the start. Like there was a screw loose, or something. It always felt like he was lacking something important that most people possessed."

"Like what?" Shinichi asked. Well, maybe understanding a bit about his past could help him to uncover where it was he was now. From the way that Sora spoke of him, it didn't seem that she doubted that he was alive- but he also believed her claims of not knowing where he was.

Putting a hand to her chin in thought, Sora's eyes narrowed. "He always seemed a bit detached from death." She told him, her brows furrowing as she spoke. "Once, when we were children, we found a dead cat that had been hit by a car. I thought that he was going to bury it somewhere when he took it away, but..." Shaking her head, it almost looked as if she didn't want to recall this. "Later, when mother complained that some of our kitchen knives had suddenly gone missing, I had the worst feeling."

"You're not saying that he...?" Paling a little, Shinichi suddenly didn't feel like drinking tea anymore, quickly setting down his cup. Normally, he wasn't this squeamish, but there was something about hearing a story about someone who shared Heiji's face doing something like this that quickly whisked away his appetite.

Come to think of it, there were a few times that Heiji seemed a little too flippant to the deaths that happened around him. That time when he had been utterly disappointed to find out what he had thought was a murder was actually a suicide, that time at the inn with the fake Kamitachi when he had started getting excited about the murder that had just happened, even as far back as that murder that had happened when they had first met...

No, no. That wasn't the same at all. He was only just thinking that way because of the unexpected revelation. There were plenty of other times when Heiji had taken quick action to prevent death, or at the very least, to attempt to prevent it. Ai had told him as much, and he was inclined to believe her. Besides, even if they did share the same DNA, the two of them were completely different otherwise, and had been raised under completely different circumstances. It was best that he cut short that line of thought right away.

"I am." Sora said frankly, nodding her head. "I found the cut up corpse of the cat several days later, when I was taking out the garbage. I never told mother about it, though thinking back on it, maybe I should have. Maybe things would have never ended up this way if I had."

"You can't blame yourself, Terajima-san." Shinichi said quickly. "You were only just a child at the time yourself."

"Thank you, Kudo-san." Sora told him, a soft smile crossing her face. "But it remains true nevertheless. Maybe if I'd said something back then, then all those people wouldn't have died."

"He was always like that." Leaning back in her chair with a long sigh, Sora placed her hands, starting to grow wrinkled with age, on her lap. "He was only interested in gathering knowledge. He never made any friends, nor had any interest in doing so. He barely even interacted with people outside of his family and his teachers. Back then, I thought it was just because he was having trouble relating to his classmates, because he had skipped so many grades, but I guess that wasn't it."

"He was always the type who never cared about who he hurt, or who he stepped on, if it meant that he could gain more knowledge. It was the same way with that cat as well." Sora told him. "Something in him really was missing. A conscience, I suppose."

At the awkward silence that fell over the room then, Sora gave Shinichi something of an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry that I can't help you more, after you came out all of this way. I don't know what it is that you want from my brother, but you're better off not associating with him."

Closing his eyes, for a moment contemplating what he should say next, Shinichi took in and let out a deep breath. "I can't do that, I'm afraid, Terajima-san." He told her frankly, opening up his eyes. "Right now, someone's life is riding on the things he was researching fifteen years ago. I can't possibly abandon him."

"Fifteen years ago...?" Sora asked with a slight frown, tilting her head in confusion. When the meaning of his words struck her, her eyes went wide, her body trembling at the revelation. "You can't possibly mean that...? I know what he was researching, but, you can't possibly mean that...?"

"He created one." Shinichi told her honestly. "Well, actually, he created seven of them, but only one of them managed to survive. Well, I would prefer if you could keep this information to yourself, because you of all people would understand what would happen to that person's life if such a thing were to leak out."

"I see." Leaning back in her chair, Sora took in and let out a deep breath. "I always knew that he was smart, but I still can't believe..." Trailing off a little, she shook her head, turning to face Shinichi, a questioning look in her eyes. "What is he like? You know him, don't you? This clone my brother created."

"He's a good person." For some reason, that was the first thing that came out of his mouth, before anything else. "He's boisterous and cheerful, reckless and impulsive. He totally doesn't think before he acts most of the time. Honest to a fault, and amazingly dense about people's feelings for him. But he's also clever, and the same as me- a high school detective. My rival, in fact."

"And most importantly, he's my best friend. Someone I can always trust to have my back." Shinichi said finally, unable to keep something of a proud smile off of his face. Although, frankly, he was kind of embarrassed now that he had said all of that, somehow managing to keep his composure and cover that up. "And right now, he's lying in a hospital bed, dying, because his body is failing him. In the end, the only person who might be able to save him is the one who brought him into the world in the first place- your brother."

"He really is important to you, isn't he?" Sora asked, her expression softening. Closing her eyes and giving him a small smile, she rose to her feet, reaching across the table to give his shoulders a light squeeze. "I'm afraid that I really can't help you, Kudo-san, but please don't lose hope. If you keep searching, I'm certain that you'll turn something up eventually. I don't think anyone's gone looking for my brother in any number of years now."

"I really don't doubt that he's still alive though." Sora said, pulling away from him, a grim expression crossing his face. "Even though he never seemed to care about the lives of others, he always did care about his own life. So much so that he became obsessed with preserving it."

"Can you really not think of any place that he might be?" Shinichi asked, slowly getting to his own feet. "Or anyone who might be hiding him, some old contacts of his or anything like that?"

Giving it a moment of thought, Sora finally shook her head. "I'm afraid not." She told him, an apologetic tone in her voice. "But Kudo-san, you must be careful. If you really do find my brother, then you should take care with how you handle him. To him, I doubt there's any difference between a dying clone and a dead cat."

Sensing the implications of her words, Shinichi gave her a curt nod. "I understand, Terajima-san. I'll be careful."

"Good." Smiling a little more, Sora carefully folded her hands in front of her. "Um, can I ask you one more question before you go?"

"Sure." Nodding his head again, Shinichi gave her a small smile. "Ask me anything, Terajima-san."

"What's his name?" She asked, a slight hint of nervousness on his voice. "That boy- your best friend. What's his name? Ah, but," doubling back on her question she shook her head. "I could understand it if you don't want to tell me. I'm sure you want to protect his identity. It's just..." trailing off a little, she fidgeted nervously with her hands, glancing down at her feet, for a moment, feeling like a much younger woman. "...I suppose, he's family, in a sense. Though I suppose I don't really have a right to claim such a thing."

"It's alright." Shinichi said, giving her a rather fond smile. Compared to her brother, this woman really was nice- and it was clear just how much having an infamous brother had weighed down on her. "I don't think you'll do anything bad with the information. Besides, if he manages to pull through this, there's a chance that he might want to meet you as well. Well," glancing aside a bit, he couldn't help but let out a rather awkward laugh. "...provided if I ever manage to tell him the truth, that is. He really don't know himself."

"It's Heiji." Shinichi told her finally. "His name is Hattori Heiji. I think you would really like him, Terajima-san. Well, whether you want to think of him as a younger brother or a nephew, I suppose that's up to you."

"I have always wanted to be called _oneesan_ , just one." Sora couldn't help but comment, before laughing in her hand a bit. "But I suppose I am a bit too old for that now. Thank you, Kudo-san. I hope that you can save him. He shouldn't have to pay for brother's sins."

"I hope I can as well." Shinichi told her, giving her a nod of his head. "Well then, I'll dismiss myself now. It was really lovely meeting you, Terajima-san, even given the circumstances."

"I agree." Sora told him, nodding her head. "If he survives, I would really like to meet him sometime. This best friend of yours."

"I'll see what I can do." With that promise, Shinichi gave her another quick bow of his head, excusing himself from her home.

It was time to return home.

* * *

"Here you go, Kazuha-chan." Placing the canned coffee against the girl's cheek to draw her attention out of her thoughts, Ran smiled down at her best friend as she took a seat next to her, passing the can over to her. When she had returned to the hospital that evening to check up on everything, she had found Kazuha in something of a daze. She had been told what had happened by Heiji's parents, in the end. "Drink up. It will make you feel a bit better."

"Thank ya. An' sorry, Ran-chan." Kazuha said softly, taking the can form her, popping the top. Instead of drinking it, she found herself staring into the can, unable to bring it to her lips just yet. "I'm sure there are other things that ya want ta do other than come ta the hospital an' look after me."

"That's not something you have to apologize for, Kazuha-chan." Ran said simply, shaking her head. "You're my friend, and so is Hattori-kun. Of course I'm here for you both."

"Still." Kazuha said, swirling the can with her hand, watching as the brown liquid danced around inside of it. "Did ya hear about Heiji? Ya spoke to his parents, didn't ya?"

"Yeah, I did." Slowly nodding her head, Ran's grip tightened on her own can of coffee, fingers lightly denting the metal of the can. "I don't know what to say other than that I'm sorry. We can only have faith at this point."

She had contacted Shinichi as she had promised, of course, but his phone wasn't in a service area at the moment. She had thought about contacting Conan, who she knew was with the Professor- but she had decided against it. He was a strong kid, but he was taking this hard. He hadn't even felt up to visiting in the past day. She couldn't blame him.

"What if he doesn't make it?" Kazuha turned towards her, grief crystal clear in her eyes, and not just from the threat of tears that lingered in the corner of them. At this point, she was just amazed that she had any left. She felt as if all she had been doing lately was crying. "What if I don't even get ta say goodbye in the end, on top of everythin' else? What if he just goes ta sleep, an' never wakes up again?"

"That won't happen." Ran promised her, her voice soft as she wrapped a hand around Kazuha's waist, pulling her close. Shinichi was right- her place was here, providing support for her own best friend. "It will all work, Kazuha-chan. I don't think Hattori-kun has exhausted his nine lives just yet."

"He's not a cat, Ran-chan." Managing to crack a small smile in spite of herself, Kazuha shook her head. "If anythin', Heiji's more like a dog."

"Ah, now that you mention it, he really is." Ran said, somehow easily picturing Heiji with a pair of dog ears and a tail- one that wagged excitedly almost by default. It was a perfect match. "But it's always been like this, hasn't it? Hattori-kun gets himself into a bad situation, and still manages to pull through. I'm sure that this time will be different, even if the stakes are higher."

"I want ta believe ya." Kazuha said after a moment. "I really do. But it's hard. It's so hard, Ran-chan."

"I imagine it is." Ran said simply. "But having faith is all that we can do, Kazuha-chan."

"What if it's not enough?" Kazuha asked, turning to look at her, that haunted expression that had briefly left her threatening to return in full force once again. "What if it's just not enough?"

"It'll be enough." Ran told her, her voice unwavering. "Right now, there's a lot of people who are working hard to save Hattori-kun's life. As long as we believe, I think that's all that's needed to tip the scales over to his favor. I don't think that the path will be easy, but... I know that everything will be alright."

"Yer right." Kazuha said after a moment, lifting a hand to wipe away the stray tears that had begun to prickle at the corner of her eyes. "If I lose my faith, what else do I have left? Besides that, I don't know what ta do."

"Do you want to come stay with us at the agency, Kazuha-chan?" Ran asked suddenly. In this fragile state, she didn't want to let Kazuha out of her sight. She imagined that she'd pull through, even should the worst happen, but... she wanted to be there for her in the one in a million chance that it did. "We could share my room. It's much easier than staying in a hotel for who knows how long, right?"

"I don't want ta trouble ya." Kazuha said, before reconsidering her words, sensing why they were being asked. Really, Ran was really a good friend. To think that she had been so jealous of her when they had first met each other- frankly, she couldn't help but be embarrassed, thinking back on it. "But if it's not any trouble, then I'll take ya up on yer offer, Ran-chan. Thank ya."

"It's no trouble at all." Ran said, shaking her head. "None at all."


	9. Miracle Drug

**AN** : Thanks for the wait, here's the ninth chapter, hot off the presses! As always, I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone for reading, especially those of you who have left reviews. Also to those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving, especially any of you who might be going back to families where the situation is less than ideal or even unsafe for you, I hope that the holiday passes without incident.

As always, please leave a review on your way out if you can! Until next time!

* * *

 **Collapse**

 **Chapter Nine**

 **Miracle Drug**

* * *

When he reentered service range to find that there were several missed calls from Ran, Shinichi knew that something was wrong. It was as if he could feel his very heart clench inside of his chest, his guts twisting into a tight knot of worry. Although she had eventually left him a voicemail, in the end, she had made it rather brief, instructing him to call her back when he had the chance.

He hadn't been expecting to return to the hospital as Kudo Shinichi again, but it would appear that he would have to, provided the antidote didn't wear off before he got there. The fact that he couldn't get through to Ran must have meant that she had returned to the hospital herself, where she wasn't allowed to use her cellphone.

Something must have happened to Heiji, and it probably wasn't anything good. If it was good news, then she would have told him as much in her message- but the fact that she had left such a short, concise message after trying to contact him several times meant that whatever it was, it was bad. He had to force himself to calm down, reasoning with himself that it couldn't possibly be the worst case scenario- there was still time, Ai had said so herself, and he had every cause to put his faith into her words.

Were he not so distracted by all of the missed calls he got from Ran, he might have noticed the one missed call that he got from Ai herself, on Conan's phone. It slipped by his notice- after seeing all of those messages from Ran on Shinichi's phone, he hadn't thought to check his other, instead focusing on getting back to Tokyo as quickly as possible. He would only notice it later, when he was leaving the hospital, the very same one that he and the Professor were racing back to now. Leaving the portly man behind at the reception desk, Shinichi raced upstairs to the ward he knew Heiji was being kept in, nearly out of breath by the time that he made it.

Thank god, Ran was still there.

"Ran!" Calling out her name and catching her attention right away, he quickly regretted it, watching as she put a finger to her lips, a scolding expression on her face. Glancing down, he took quick notice of the fact that Kazuha had fallen asleep on her lap, and seeing her red rimmed eyes, he could feel the knot in his stomach tying itself ever tighter. She had obviously been crying again.

"She just finally fell asleep, Shinichi, be quiet." Ran scolded him, her voice barely above a whisper. Frankly, she was surprised to see that he had returned in person, rather than having called her on the phone as he usually did. He really must have cared that much about Heiji- even in a moment like this, it warmed her heart a little. Shinichi always did have trouble making friends outside of her and Sonoko, ever since he was younger. People liked him well enough, but there weren't many that he was really close to. As far as she knew, Heiji was the only real male friend he had around his own age.

"Sorry." Quickly apologizing, Shinichi dropped his voice low. Judging from the way Ran was behaving, the news that she had called him here for, at the very least, probably wasn't the worst case scenario. With that knowledge firmly in his mind, he felt himself breathing a little easier, realizing that his mad dash up the stairs wasn't the only reason he had found himself out of breath. "I got your message, Ran. What happened?"

"The doctors said that Hattori-kun was straining his body too much." Ran told him, a grave expression on her face, even as one hand lightly stroked Kazuha's hair, listening to the quiet sound of her breathing. Even the hushed discussion happening right over her didn't manage to wake her- she must have really been exhausted, and honestly, she couldn't blame her. She'd been pushing herself too hard lately, she needed her rest. "Apparently, according to his father, sometime earlier this evening, he started to have a nosebleed that wouldn't stop. The doctors were concerned that the time he spent awake was putting too much strain on his body, so..."

Trailing off a little, her face fell, glancing back down towards the girl whose head was resting in her lap. "They made the decision to induce a coma, for the moment. They say that it should give them more time to figure out what's wrong with him, and prevent him from getting worse faster than he should."

Swallowing, for a moment wondering if he had heard her right, Shinichi felt his heart clench once again. For a moment, the idea that the last time he had spoken to Heiji might very well _really_ be the last time entered into his head, lingering for longer than he would have liked, before he finally managed to force it back into the depths of his mind, where it had come from. It was still too early to think about something like that- if he let something like this get him down, then who would Heiji have to fight for him? "Then, Hattori's...?"

"They say that if his condition begins to improve, or they figure out a solution, they'll bring him out of it, but..." Ran shook her head, finally looking up towards him. "For now, Hattori-kun's sleeping, and won't wake up. They say that it'll help with the strain on his body."

"I see." His words barely even coming out as a whisper, Shinichi sank back down on the bench next to Ran, resting his head against the wall. "How is he otherwise?"

"The doctor's don't think that he's at immediate risk, at the very least. They managed to stop the nosebleed before he lost too much blood." She told him, reaching a hand over, placing it on his thigh, giving him a small smile. "Thank you for coming, Shinichi. I'm sure Hattori-kun would be happy to know that you raced back here for him."

"Of course." Shinichi told her, placing a hand over her own, giving her a small smile. Well, if the decision had been made a day later, he probably wouldn't have been able to do so- at the very least he could be here, like this, for a little bit longer. "What would I do without my rival around, after all?"

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Ran asked, even though she got the feeling she already knew the answer. It was written plain as day over his face- she didn't need to be a detective to know what that expression meant.

"No." Shinichi told her, shaking his head. "I thought I found someone who might be able to lead me to the person I'm searching for, but they haven't been in contact with him for fifteen years." Realizing that he might have said a bit too much there, Shinichi cast Ran a tight smile, deciding to quickly change the topic. "Where are Hattori-kun's parents?"

"In the room with him." Ran said, glancing towards Heiji's hospital room. "His mother wanted to be with him a little bit longer, and his father wanted to be with her. I don't think they want to be disturbed right now."

"I got it." Nodding his head, Shinichi let his hand linger over Ran's for a moment longer, before he forced himself to pull away from her touch, one that was so soft, it tempted him to stay there forever. He already knew that he couldn't do that. Not when there was a chance that the girl who was fast asleep with her head in Ran's lap might never be able to hold hands with the one she loved again. Might never feel his touch again. "Then, I have to go, Ran. There's still things left that I have to do."

He still hadn't seen the contents of the envelope that Subaru had obtained from Makino Suzume's father, after all. Perhaps there was something like hope contained within it. No matter how difficult the situation was, he couldn't afford to give up until he was certain he'd exhausted every option- and even then, he'd keep looking for more. Until he either found what he was looking for, or Heiji drew his very last breath.

He wouldn't let it be the latter.

Even though it looked as if she wanted him to stay, Ran instead smiled at him, a look of understanding crossing her face. She didn't know what was going on behind the scenes, but she knew enough to know when there was something big brewing there. If there was something that Shinichi thought he could do, then she would let him go- and hope that he would tell her all about it later. "I understand, Shinichi. If you find something, some way to help Hattori-kun, let me know. I'm sure Kazuha-chan would be relieved."

"I think we _all_ would be." Shinichi told her, a rather sorrowful smile on his face, for a moment once more dwelling on the unpleasant thought that maybe he'd never get to see Heiji's own again. "Stay with her, Ran. She needs someone by her side now more than ever."

Since Heiji can't be there for her right now. But such words went unsaid. He couldn't say them.

"You don't need to tell me something like that. She's my best friend, after all." Ran told him, once more turning her attention back towards Kazuha. "So you go take care of your own, in the way only you can."

With a firm nod of his head, Shinichi let a look of determination fill his eyes. "I will. I won't let Hattori down."

* * *

It was Ai's message, once he finally thought to check Conan's cellphone, that brought him hurrying back to the Professor's place, in a decidedly different mood than he had hurried to the hospital. He already knew where she was without even having to look for her, making a beeline for the downstairs lab, where she had more or less been cooped up ever since she had gotten back from exploring the ruins of the lab with him. That had been a dead end search- but it would appear that Subaru's inquiry into Makino Suzume, the researcher who had been both the one to save Heiji's life, and give it to him in the first place, had proved more fruitful.

"We _finally_ have some good news." Ai told him, barely sparing him a glance as she busied herself, carefully measuring out a quantity of a chemical with a name that Shinichi had to admit, even _he_ found a tad bit hard to pronounce. "It's here, it's _all_ here, Kudo-kun." Finally looking up at him, she placed a hand on the papers that were scattered about her desk in what appeared to be a random order at first glance. Doubtlessly, Ai knew exactly how and why they were arranged in the fashion that they were, even if he could only begin to guess at it.

"Everything that I've been looking for, everything that I could have _possibly_ been looking for. Makino-san saved her research notes, and sent them home. I don't understand why myself, but that's not really _my_ job." Ai told him, her words carrying an implication that Shinichi did not miss. "She even went so far as to speculate future possibilities for exactly the kind of agent that I'm trying to make. She must have anticipated that something like this would be a problem in the future, and wanted to circumvent it. Regardless of her reasons, with this, I might even be able to make something that might last Hattori-kun for a week, not just from a day by day basis."

Finally pausing to actually look at his expression, taking note of the fact that he did not appear to be half as overjoyed by this development as she thought he would be, she frowned. "Is something wrong, Kudo-kun? I thought you would be more excited about this information. I've found a way to begin to saving your friend's life, after all."

"Ah, no, no, I am excited!" Shinichi said quickly, shaking his head. "Thrilled, even. It's just... you haven't gotten any calls?"

"No." Ai said simply, shaking her head. "But I've been so engrossed in my research, I haven't really checked my phone. I don't know why anyone other than you would call me anyways though, Kudo-kun." She paused there, pursing her lips together. "Did something happen?"

"Hattori's in a coma." Shinichi told her directly, his brows furrowing together. Beating around the bush wouldn't do them any good. "The doctors said that he was straining his body too much during the periods in which he was awake, and decided that it would be for the best if they induced one, to prevent him from getting worse faster."

"I see." With a rather curt nod, Ai quickly took this information in, picking up a sheet of paper, carefully scanning over it, before setting it down again. "Well, the good news is, there's nothing that should counteract what they use to induce comas in what I'm making right now, I can tell you that much already. If they're keeping him in it until his condition stabilizes, then when I complete this, they _should_ be able to wake him from it. Judging from the setup that they've arranged to monitor him, they should take notice of the uptick in his condition rather quickly, should things work out as I hope."

Letting out a deep sigh of relief, Shinichi almost wavered on his feet for a moment. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't gotten that much sleep lately himself- and running here and there on top of that, sometimes quite _literally_ , was starting to take it's toll on him. Placing his hand on a nearby chair, he used it to steady himself, working to fight against the fit of exhaustion that nearly threatened to claim him.

"Can you really do it, Haibara?" Shinichi asked, looking her square in the eye. "You can make it, right?"

"Who exactly do you think I am? That's what I'm doing right now, Kudo-kun. With any luck, it should be finished by morning." Ai told him, turning back to her work. "That said, what I'm making right now is essentially a prototype. Even though there's framework for making a stabilizing agent that might last for up to a week, that's only the framework. The one I'm making right now should only last around twenty-four hours, the same as your antidote. From there, I'll work to gradually increase the length it can work."

"Well, as I mentioned before though, this isn't a permanent solution by any means." She doubted that he would have forgotten such a thing, but it was always good to remind him. "Hattori-kun's condition will likely stabilize, but his health probably won't drastically improve. Whatever you decide to tell him about what he is, and where he came from, at the very least, you should make sure to tell him that. If you don't, he's likely to make himself worse purely by virtue of being himself."

"I'll be sure to tell him." Shinichi said, letting out a long breath, feeling a wave of tension wash out from his shoulders. They were nowhere near to the finish line yet, but at the very least, they had managed to extend the amount of time that they had to get there. "He'll probably hate it, though."

"At least he'll be _alive_." Ai almost snipped, briefly sparing him another glance. "And hopefully able to be up and walking about, instead of bound to a hospital bed all the time. I'll do what I can, Kudo-kun, but it's not as if I'm crafting some kind of miracle drug here."

"I know that much, Haibara." Shinichi told her, giving her a small smile. "I'm sure Hattori will understand too. Oh sure, he'll _complain_ about it, but I think he'll understand." He wouldn't have much of a choice, from the sound of it. Even being able to get out of bed would be a _vast_ improvement at this point- and he could only hope that it would all work out just as Ai said it would. The fact that she had Makino Suzume's research notes was encouraging, but it still wasn't a permanent solution to the problem at hand.

He could deal with an antidote for his condition that only lasted for twenty-four hours. Heiji _couldn't_.

"He'd better." Ai said simply. "This isn't easy to make, especially not when I'm likely going to have to _keep_ making it for him." Heaving a slight sigh, she paused in her work for a moment longer, turning on her heel to look back at him again, her gaze turning upwards. "You should get some sleep, Kudo-kun. You barely look like you're standing upright at this point. What good is it going to do if you push yourself to the verge of collapse? Taking care of _one_ sick high school detective is a challenge enough, I'd rather not deal with _two_. There's nothing more you can do tonight anyways."

"What about you?" Shinichi asked, a slight frown on his face. "How much sleep have you gotten since all of this started, Haibara?"

"A nap, here and there." Ai told him, merely shrugging her shoulders. "But I'm already far more conditioned to you when it comes to going without sleep for extended periods of time. I'll be fine. Once this is completed, and we get it into his system, I'll take a good long nap." There was a pause there, as a sly smile crept onto her face. "Don't tell me you're worried about me?"

"Well of course I am." Shinichi told her. "You're the only one I can depend on to help Hattori as it is, Haibara. If something were to happen to you..." Trailing off, he shook his head, not wanting to think about the bind that would leave him in. "The doctors at the hospital seem pretty reliable, but as long as they don't know what's _actually_ happening here, there's a limit to what they can do for him. And it's not like we can just _tell_ them, of course. There's no guarantee how _that'll_ turn out."

"A fair point." Ai noted simply. "Now go on and get some sleep, Kudo-kun. I need to focus on my work, and to be frank, you're only getting in the way. You can use our couch, if need be."

"Then I'll take you up on that generous offer." Shinichi said, muttering underneath his breath at the callous way he had been spoken too- even if she was, of course, completely right. There was nothing that he could do right now, and he felt more exhausted now than he could ever remember being before. Getting some sleep sounded ideal, really. "Good luck, Haibara."

"I can't depend on something as fickle as luck right now." Ai replied simply, before sparing him the smallest of glances, a hint of a soft smile appearing on her face. "But I thank you for the sentiment anyways. Perhaps when you wake up, I'll be finished with this."

"That would be nice."

It would be _very nice_ indeed.

* * *

It was the antidote wearing off that had woken him from his slumber, the white hot pain coursing through his body being something that he was unable to sleep through. Waking up soaked in sweat, feeling pain coursing through his bones was hardly the ideal way to greet the day, nor was having to face the fact that he had once again returned to the far too minuscule body of Edogawa Conan. Heaving a sigh as he saw the clothes that had fit him perfectly just the day before hang limply over his hands, Conan leaned his head back against the couch for a moment, before he concentrated on getting ready for the day.

Thankfully, he still had the emergency change of clothes that he had brought with him in case he needed it, which included Conan's usual glasses. Cleaning himself up a bit and slipping his glasses on, he managed to feel more like himself, in spite of no longer quite being himself. At the very least, he was now ready to face the day, and whatever it might bring him.

He could only hope that in comparison to yesterday, today was a day for _good_ news. Making his way down towards the lab, he peered around it, searching for a sign of the shrunken scientist. Easily picking her out in spite of her own rather short height, Conan made his way to her side, able to take notice of the bags underneath her eyes that he had missed at his full height yesterday. He felt almost a bit guilty about feeling so refreshed himself, however rude his awakening had been that morning.

"I see you've returned to being Edogawa-kun." Ai observed simply, once again only sparing him the smallest of looks, reserving most of her attention for studying the contents of the test tube in her hand. A vaguely green liquid was contained within it, and apparently satisfied with what she was looking at, she slipped it back into the rack with the others. "Well, I _do_ have some good news, at the very least."

"You've completed it?" Conan asked, not caring for a moment how much he sounded like an excited child. After all the bad news and dead ends that he had been running into, it was _about time_ that he heard something good come out of all of this- if this worked, at the very least, they'd be able to give Heiji a fighting chance.

"Yes." Ai told him, giving him a sharp nod of her head. "All that remains is to inject it into the patient himself and wait for results. I've run as many trails and simulations as I possibly can with what I have, and as far as I can tell, it appears to be safe. The only way to know for sure, however, is to actually try it out on the patient in question."

In the event that it failed, it was probably for the best that he was _already_ in the hospital, she couldn't help but think to herself. Still, she had confidence in her own work- as well as a certain amount of confidence in the research notes left behind by the deceased Makino Suzume. Genius perhaps would _not_ be the correct word for her, unlike the missing Kawaguchi Souma- but it was clear to her from the notes that she had left behind that was nevertheless rather brilliant.

It was a shame that she was already long dead- she would have loved to have the chance to pick her brain. Even when she was still working with the Organizations, her chances to speak with other female scientists were few and far between. And among those that they had, by and large, all of them were rather cold and callous, almost unfeeling. In the research data and the notes left behind by Suzume, however, she could almost feel something warm- this was a researcher who was willing to exchange her own life for what she had helped to create, an entirely different breed than she had met before. She would have doubtlessly enjoyed any kind of discussion that she might have had with the woman, had she lived.

Well, if she'd lived, it was possible that they wouldn't be having this problem right now. She wasn't certain if that was because they might have never met the one now known as Hattori Heiji were that the case- perhaps he'd never even have received that name, or if she would have simply worked to avoid this scenario in the first place. Given the fact that she had begun to research methods to stabilize the clone that she had helped create should it's body start to fail it, she could only guess that the latter was likely to be true, regardless of the status of the former.

"Then, what are we doing wasting our time here for? The faster we get that into Hattori, the better, right?" Conan asked. He just hoped that they would be able to come and go freely from Heiji's room as they had before- it was already going to be enough trouble getting Ai in there alone to give him the injection in the first place, he didn't want the added trouble something like that would bring.

"Calm down, Kudo-kun. Don't rush me." Ai snapped at him, sharply narrowing her eyes. Perhaps it was the lack of sleep that was making her a bit testy- but one couldn't blame her. She was definitely going to take a very long nap once this was over, one that she wouldn't allow anyone to disturb her for news any less important than something else having horribly gone wrong. "I've still got a bit more that I need to prepare before I go anywhere. Why don't you wait upstairs until I'm done? Give Ran-san a call, she's probably worried about why _Edogawa-kun_ hasn't contacted her lately."

"Ah, that's true." Blinking a little, Conan realized that it had in fact, been a bit since she had last seen Edogawa Conan. Were the circumstances different from what they were, she might have taken more notice of the fact- but in between dealing with Heiji's failing health, and being a pillar of support for Kazuha, thoughts of her curious young ward had obviously been put on the back burner. "Then, I'll be ready to go whenever you are, Haibara."

He didn't need to say anything to impress upon her that she should get herself in order as quickly as possible- that much was obvious. As much as she wanted to cast a few barbed words towards him in response to that- this sort of thing couldn't be rushed, after all- she understood the reason why he was in such a hurry. It was his best friend's life on the line after all- really, she hoped that Heiji was touched at the trouble his friend was going through for him.

She really didn't doubt that he was, even if she didn't know him all that well. Were their situations reversed, she was almost certain he would be doing the same. If there was any difference between the two of them, it would probably be the fact that she wouldn't have been able to convince _Heiji_ to get some sleep himself.

That said, she couldn't deny that she had her _own_ interest in this situation. To think that something like a human clone _really_ existed- frankly, even after seeing the lab, and even after hearing what Hattori Heizo had told Shinichi, she had still harbored a few doubts. The research notes however, chased any such doubts away- this was the real deal, there was no mistake. Flawed though he was, it was now clear that Hattori Heiji really was an artificial human, something she would have thought impossible even a week ago. A scientific marvel, really.

And also a living, breathing, human being, however unconventionally made, who was currently fighting for his life. No matter how much of a marvel or a curiosity he might be to her, that was a fact that she could _never_ allow herself to forget. There was _nothing_ good to be found going down that path.

If she couldn't figure out a way to keep him alive, it would be a knock against her own abilities as a scientist. She couldn't have that. This was not a situation in which she would accept defeat. Not only would it mean that an innocent person would die, for something that he had no direct involvement in himself, it would also mean that Edogawa Conan would lose one of his most valuable allies- one of the few that he trusted with his deepest secret. However much he had been trying to avoid getting Heiji involved with the investigation of the Organization lately, she knew that without him around, a problem of it's own would form.

After all, it was only around him, really, that he could _truly_ be himself. The Professor as well, to be sure, but that was still a different sort of self than the person he would show to someone his own age, who he viewed as more or less his own equal. Without that, she was certain that he would be quietly suffering right now, feeling more isolated and burdened than ever. For that reason too, it was imperative that she did whatever she could to keep him alive.

Readying the stabilizing agent for transport, and preparing the needle that she would need to inject it, Ai tucked it all carefully into a bag. It was perhaps for the best that Heiji had no apparent fear of needles- though he imagined if things worked out as she thought they would, he might very well quickly grow to dislike them. At least nobody would question the belongings of an elementary school student, so she didn't have to worry about anyone checking it and discovering what was inside. As long as Conan could secure him some time alone with Heiji, then there would be no problem.

What she would do once he was out of the hospital, provided such a thing ever happened, was a question in and of itself. Would she have to introduce herself, at her proper size to Heiji's parents to get them to believe her? Could she continue to use Shinichi as her liaison? Both of these possibilities involved clear risks to them, and it was going to be something that she would have to think on. Perhaps she should attempt to convince him to move to Tokyo, where it would be far easier to access him than in Osaka.

In a sense, he was her patient now, and she had responsibility for his care. _Doctor_ was never a role she had imagined for herself, even when she was truly the child she now only looked to be. And yet, here she was.

Between creating a poison that could kill without a trace, and creating a drug that could help save someone's life- she had to say that without a doubt, she preferred the latter.

* * *

In retrospect, he wasn't quite certain why he had expected there to have been an immediate improvement. Maybe he really was just _that_ impatient- but really, who could blame him? Ai had reassured him that he needed to give it some time to work, to let it start circulating through his body, and even though he understood that much, he couldn't but feel nervous, as more and more time ticked by without any obvious improvement.

Had it actually worked? Did Ai need to revisit the formula that she had used to create it? At the very least, it didn't appear to be making him any _worse_ , which was the one thing that they had been most worried about. If that were the case, it would show up much quicker than any signs of improvement in his overall state, she had said, but an hour had passed now with no such signs. Ai had gone home to get her own much needed nap, and had left strict instructions _only_ to call her if something went wrong.

Conan didn't think of himself as much of one for fidgeting, but as he sat there by Heiji's bedside, watching his friend's currently unwaking sleep, he couldn't help it. As much as he racked his brain for something else that he could do, he didn't want to leave Heiji's side right now- he wanted to stay right here, and wait for any signs that Ai's stabilizing agent had actually _worked_ , for a sign that they might actually be able to extend the amount of time that Heiji had. That they might be able to get him out of this damn bed, where he had been confined ever since he had been brought here, what felt like months ago now, even though he knew that it had really only been about three days.

To think that it only _had_ been a few days since he last saw his friend up and walking about- maybe not the picture of perfect health, given his insistent cough, but certainly, far better off than this. It had all happened so fast- maybe if they had brought him to the hospital in the first place, something might have changed, circumstances might have been better. In reality, he knew that probably wasn't true- once his health had started to decline, there was probably no stopping what was going to happen. Even this method that Ai had found was only temporary- a real, permanent solution, was a mystery that was currently eluding them all.

And there was probably only one person with all the answers. For the moment, he would have to leave that leg of the investigation up to Subaru, who he didn't doubt was now searching for the answers to the new questions that had cropped up. If- _when_ \- Heiji woke up again, his condition having become stable enough to allow the doctors to determine that there would be no increased strain on his body from that, he would rejoin that leg of the investigation. The research data might have provided answers for Ai- but it's presence here only gave him more questions.

Had Makino Suzume known that something was going to happen? Or was there something else going on behind the scenes, that they didn't yet know about? Given what he heard about Kawaguchi from his own sister, and given the lengths that Suzume had gone to save the clone that she was in charge of, even at the cost of her own life, he wouldn't be surprised if he learned that she was planning to flee the lab with him originally.

Had Kawaguchi discovered this, and in an attempt to stop this, ended up burying his research, eliminating everyone involved with it? Or were Suzume's plans completely unrelated to the explosion, something else having happened instead? The fact that the Organization was interested in Kawaguchi troubled him- had they been able to make contact with him? Ai said that she didn't know if they had or hadn't, she'd never heard as much one way or the other during her time there, and between the two of them, she was probably more likely to know than Subaru.

There _was_ one more person who might know, or who might otherwise be able to find out- but he was extremely hesitant to ask him. He couldn't contact Kir on his own, and doing so might put her in risk- she couldn't dig into something like this, not now. That only left Amuro Tooru- or rather, Bourbon. But although he knew that he was in the end, the Organization's enemy, there was no telling where he would stand on this issue. If it profited him in any way, he might actually let the Organization know about the current state of affairs- and if they had any lingering interest in Kawaguchi Souma and his research, they were sure to come.

He didn't like the thought of that. What he liked even less, really, was the fact that he'd been absent from his post at Cafe Poirot, with nary an excuse, since the day after Heiji had collapsed. Though he had been trying not to focus on it, having far too many other factors to worry about, that had always been eating away at him in the back of his mind. It wasn't exactly uncommon knowledge that Heiji had collapsed and was being hospitalized- there had been no reason to keep it a secret, not at first, at least. Doing so would have only raised more questions when people found out, really.

Still, that didn't mean that he had any reason to know _who_ Kawaguchi was in the first place. It had, after all, been fifteen years since that incident, long before Bourbon probably would have joined the Organization. There was nobody else in the Organization that would have paid much attention to Heiji, even after his stunt at that Halloween party. Rather, if they were going to take any notice of him at all, it would have been after that- he did, after all, bare a rather uncanny resemblance to the missing researcher, fitting, given that he was his clone.

Since that hadn't happened, it was possible that he was in the clear. Still, though he wanted to believe that, part of him very quickly reminded the rest of him who had Heiji's father was- Hattori Heizo probably wasn't the sort of man that they would move carelessly against. If his son went missing, there would undeniably be trouble. If they were waiting for a chance...

No, no, he couldn't dwell too much on this now. Finding Kawaguchi Souma, who more and more he was starting to suspect was actually still alive, took priority over everything else- everything _other_ than keeping Heiji alive, that was.

"Come on Hattori, show me a sign of life, you big idiot." Conan whispered, eyes darting towards Heiji's sleeping form. Even though it wasn't the first time he had entered his room to find him fast asleep, it was still eerie seeing him this _still_ , and not by his own choice. He hadn't been involved in the decision to put him in a coma, he knew, since at the time, he was already unconscious. To have something like that decided without him, he knew that it would make him angry.

"It's not supposed to be like this, you know." Conan found himself saying, eyes narrowing from behind his glasses. "After you finally managed to spit it out to Kazuha-chan, you can't lose to something like this so easily, Hattori. Show me that Osakan spirit or whatever it is that you're always claiming you have."

Perhaps it was just good timing.

Perhaps it was because he had, on some level, heard his rival's challenge, and was rising to it. Whatever the case, at one hour, thirty minutes in since being injected with the stabilizing agent, slowly but surely, Heiji's condition finally began to show some signs of improvement.

Three days and more hours than he cared to count into this ordeal, Conan heaved what he finally knew to be a true sigh of relief, the first time he had truly done so since Heiji had collapsed in the basement of the Professor's house. Three days and countless hours into this ordeal, he could rest a bit easier, knowing that for the moment, the death sentence that had been looming over his friend had now been somewhat averted.

It wasn't gone, and he couldn't let himself forget that. But there was more time. He'd put it to good use, without fail.

But first, Edogawa Conan had a bit of work of his own to do- innocently asking the doctor if he was just imagining things, or if it _really_ sounded like Heiji's breathing had finally steadied.


	10. Lucid Dreaming

**AN** : Oh hey, it's the tenth chapter! Double digits! I've been a little out of it lately, writing wise, so if anyone is wondering why fic updates in general are coming out at a somewhat slower pace, that's why. I actually had to revise this chapter a few times before I came out with something that I was content with. Still, I want to thank everyone for reading, and remind you to leave a review on your way out, if you can! Until next time!

* * *

 **Collapse**

 **Chapter Ten**

 **Lucid Dreaming**

* * *

"I don't mind looking it up for you, but if you don't mind me asking, what exactly does the FBI need with shipping information from fifteen years ago?"

"I'm afraid that I can't go into any detail." Giving the woman behind the reception desk a rather polite smile, Jodie Starling nevertheless made sure to pick a tone that impressed upon her that any further digging for information would _not_ be appreciated. "Only that it's very important to our current investigation that we find this information out, and as soon as possible. Is there a problem?"

"Ah, no." Slowly shaking her head, the woman flashed her an apologetic smile, clearly wary of getting on the wrong page with someone involved with the FBI. Hurriedly typing in the information that Jodie had brought from her, taken from the label on the envelope that Makino Suzume's research data had been contained within, the receptionist carefully scanned the database. It had been easy enough to find the postal office that the package had been sent from- thankfully enough, it hadn't changed locations in the ensuing fifteen years. Still, it was a bit of a long shot to assume that they might still have records of who might have brought such a package in fifteen years ago, but it was a long shot worth looking into.

Sometimes when you gambled, you won.

And as someone who still had access to certain important things- like an FBI badge, something they might need to get the information they were looking for, Jodie had been the one that Shuichi ended up asking to do this leg of the investigation. She didn't mind much- especially when he brought up the chance that perhaps there was more of a link than they had first suspected between Kawaguchi Souma and the Organization. While the FBI had long since suspected that the so-called accident hadn't actually been an accident, they had lacked definitive proof, something which she now realized that the Osakan police had been working to keep from them. Given the reasons behind the cover up, it wasn't as if she could _entirely_ blame them. Even she wasn't sure what those working with the Bureau back then would have done if they had learned that one of the clones created in that lab had survived, or what would have come of it.

So far, she hadn't passed on any information about this to her boss just yet- although she felt that James would be fairly understanding. A fair amount of time had passed since the explosion, and whatever circumstances he might have come from, there was no denying that there currently was a human being by the name of Hattori Heiji living in this world- even though he might have been created by unconventional means. Even if she had only really met him once, she was having a hard time truly wrapping her head around that detail.

Still, at the very least, she could understand a bit more why the Organization would have been interested in Kawaguchi Souma. And why they had to be careful to not raise any flags within them while trying to investigate his current whereabouts. Shuichi seemed fairly convinced that he was still alive, and Jodie wasn't about to argue with his instincts. Someone like that wasn't the type to die that easily, after all.

If he was really still out there somewhere, there was no doubt that the Organization would commence looking for him at once if they were to learn there was a chance that he had survived.

"Ah, here we are. It would seem we do have some records of that package still." Halting her fingers mid-type, the woman carefully read the information over, before she turned the monitor around to show Jodie. "Fifteen years ago, in late July of that year, a woman by the name of Makino Suzume came into the postal office, and asked us to hold onto a package for her, and that if she didn't come back for it in a month, that we were to send it off to the address on the label. It was a bit of an odd request, but we apparently nevertheless accepted it. Since she never did come back for the package, it appears that we did deliver it to it's intended recipient, one Makino Fujioka."

"So the sender was Makino Suzume herself?" Jodie blinked, a slight frown crossing her face. They had been underneath the impression that she had trusted someone to send it out for her at a set point in time. If she had been the one to bring it to the post officer herself, that left no one to question about the matter- she doubted she would have gone to much into detail to a random postal worker. "Was there anything else? Perhaps any information about the person who handled the package?"

"I'm afraid not." The woman apologized again, shaking her head, turning her monitor back around. "It was fifteen years ago, after all. Did the package never show up?"

"No, it did." Jodie told her, shaking her head. "By any chance, has there been anyone else who came to perhaps ask about this matter?"

"Mm, I wouldn't think so." The woman mused, placing a finger against her chin. "I can ask around the postal office to find out if there was anyone, but I haven't heard of any requests being made before this one."

"Please do. I'll give you my number." Jodie told her, carefully jotting down her number on a scrap of paper, passing it over to the woman, who accepted it, tucking it away in her pocket. "If you learn anything else about the matter, please give me a call. And in the event anyone else comes asking about this package, please refrain from telling them anything, and contact me."

"Is this package really that important?" The woman behind the counter blinked, a slight frown crossing her face. "Ah, sorry. You probably can't tell me that, right?"

"I'm afraid not." Jodie said, flashing her an apologetic smile of her own. "Well then, thank you for your assistance, miss. Please have a good day."

With that said, Jodie made her way out of the post office, waiting until she got back into her car to pull out her cellphone, quickly dialing Shuichi's number- or rather, the number of the phone that belonged to his current alias. Tapping her finger on the steering wheel as it rang, Jodie let out a slight breath when it was picked up, a voice that she knew was being produced by Shuichi's voice changer coming across on the other end of the line.

"It was Makino Suzume herself who requested that the package be delivered, a month before the explosion, Shu." Skipping the prelude, Jodie dove right into the information she had gotten, leaning on her steering wheel. "She had them hold onto the package for a month, and told them to send it to the specified address on the label if she didn't come to claim it before the month was over. Naturally, she never did."

"I see." The voice that she knew belonged to that of his alias, Okiya Subaru, came across loud and clear on the other end of the line. Frankly, she just couldn't get used to it. "So in other words, there's a high chance that Makino-san might have been aware that something might happen at the lab soon. For that reason, she wanted to ensure that her research data was safe."

"It's not impossible." Jodie noted, a slight frown crossing her features, her brows knitting together. "But honestly, my instincts are telling me something a bit different, Shu. I don't doubt your theory that the Organization might have had some relation to the explosion, but I can't help but feel that Makino-san might have had an unrelated reason for sending her research data to her father."

"Oh?" Subaru asked, and she swore she could almost hear the arch of his brows over the phone. "Let's hear it then, Jodie. I'm rather curious to hear your take on things."

"This is a woman who gave her own life for the clone that she was creating." Jodie observed, leaning back in her seat, closing her eyes, trying to picture the situation that the woman must have been. "Given the notebook that you found with her research data, I can't help but wonder if she was planning to escape with the clone. The fact that she had been researching something like a stabilizing agent in the first place might be a hint to that. Given what I've read about Kawaguchi Souma, I don't think he would be particularly concerned if a bunch of prototype clones lived or died, so long as he got what he needed from him. The fact that there's a high chance he might have trapped the researchers and clones in the burning lab himself is evidence enough of that."

"That certainly does make a fair amount of sense." Subaru noted with a slight frown. "It's not impossible that Kawaguchi-san caught wind of her plan, and rigged the explosion himself in order to prevent that from happening." However, there was something about that theory that didn't quite sit right with him either- even if the odds were low, and even if the Osakan police had gone to lengths to cover up the existence of a survivor, the fact that one of the bodies found hadn't burned to death wasn't exactly unknown. If he had been monitoring the situation after the explosion, he would have surely taken notice of the sudden appearance of a young boy that had suddenly appeared in the family of the first responding officer- one that matched the description of one of the clones that he had created exactly.

The fact that he for the large part seemed to be unaware of the existence of Hattori Heiji, in spite of fact that he eventually came to receive media attention of his own, felt out of place in regards to that theory. Given how similar they looked, it wouldn't have been that hard for someone that brilliant to draw the same conclusion that others had- that the boy was a surviving clone from that experiment. From what he understood of the man in question, he wasn't under the impression that he _wouldn't_ take an interest in this, and rather directly at that.

"There's still the presence of the one unidentified adult body found at the scene. Since it seems we're under the impression that it wasn't Kawaguchi Souma himself, that brings up the question of _who_ exactly it was, and _why_ they couldn't identify him." Jodie noted. "You didn't hear anything about anyone being sent out to look into his research during your time infiltrating the Organization, did you?"

"I only heard that the Organization had an interest in him." Subaru told her, digging through his memories to recall the exact words. It had been something that he had heard mentioned offhand, and not something he was ever able to get any further details about. Since the researcher had been assumed long dead at the time, he hadn't thought about it much back then. "But I don't know how far they might have got into recruiting him. At the very least, he doesn't give off the impression of being a man who would work underneath someone else's orders."

"It certainly not impossible that he rigged the accident to destroy both his research, and the one sent to recruit him, in other words." Jodie said. "And probably used that as a chance to escape from the Organization's eyes. Considering that the Bureau from back then was searching for him during those ten years before the accident, and didn't find a trace of him until then, he's probably quite skilled at hiding himself. Since they seemed to be under the impression that he was dead while you were with them, it's possible that he managed to fool them just as well as he did us."

"I suppose the only one aside from Kawaguchi-san himself who might know anything would be Hattori-kun himself." Jodie observed. "But from the sound of it, I doubt he remembers anything from that time, otherwise this search would be a lot easier. It's probably better to not dig up memories better left forgotten, anyways." With a slight pause, she tapped a finger against her steering wheel in thought, something tugging at her own thoughts. "But still, Shu, wouldn't the Organization have realized that one of their own had been killed? If he really _did_ rig the explosion in part to kill whoever it was that was sent to try and recruit him, they would have realized that much. That _would_ explain why the police couldn't identify the body, if he was really member of _their_ number, but still... I don't think the Organization would be fooled into thinking Kawaguchi-san was dead that easily, especially if their man never returned."

"It's possible that rather than being a member of the Organization, the unidentified corpse belonged to a body double." Subaru observed. "Considering it was too badly burned to be identified, even with the DNA sample provided by his younger sister, it's not that unlikely. Someone involved in the business of creating human clones had to be getting research funding from somewhere- if it wasn't the Organization, it's possible he had his hands in with other criminal elements, or at the very least, some rather unscrupulous investors. They probably would have easily been able to secure someone that nobody would notice going missing to take his place."

"There's any number of wealthy people with very few morals who would be interested in what he was offering. Not to mention an endless array of mafia bosses and crime lords on top of that. There's probably even government officials who would have been keen to support his work in secret." Jodie observed. "A way to live forever, in the form of transferring your memories to a clone made in your likeness. It sounds like something straight of science fiction, really. But at the very least, we can't deny that he _did_ manage to create clones, even if the only one that survived is now having to endure his body breaking down."

That much had been confirmed for them by none other than Edogawa Conan- and in the back of her mind, Jodie couldn't help but wonder how much the person in question knew about the situation himself. Perhaps it would be better if Heiji were kept in the dark for the rest of his life- it was the sort of thing one was better off not knowing.

"For the time being, try following the money, Jodie. You're better equipped to deal with that sort of investigation now than I am, I'm afraid." Subaru advised her. "If you're able to uncover where it was he was getting his funding from, you might be able to discover a lead."

"That's a rather tall order." Jodie observed, even as she started up her car, feeling the engine hum. "But I'll see what I can do, Shu. What are you going to do?"

"There's something that I've been wanting to check out." Subaru noted. "For the past few days, Amuro Tooru has been taking time off from his post at Cafe Poirot. Ever since the morning after Hattori-kun collapsed. I'm afraid that there's a chance that this might not be a coincidence."

"If that's the case, we can only hope he's looking into the matter for the Public Security Bureau, and not for the Organization." Jodie said grimly, narrowing her eyes. "Even if it's for the former, there's a chance that he still might try and get in our way, given his grudge against the FBI. Be careful, Shu. If he learns who you really are, he won't let you go easily."

"I don't intend to allow him." Subaru told her simply. "But I must say, you seem pretty invested in this matter yourself, Jodie. You've only met the boy once yourself, haven't you?"

"I'm not really a fan of watching children die." Jodie said simply. "Besides, we owe that _Cool Kid_ quite a bit, you and I. I don't intend to let him down in his hour of need."

* * *

He knew this place.

He always got that feeling whenever it appeared in his dreams- and he _was,_ in fact, dreaming, he had enough awareness to realize that much. It was no different than any of the other dreams he had been seeing lately, if not more vivid, more clear, than the others. It felt as if he were in a long, long dream, really- he couldn't help but wonder how much time had passed since he had fallen asleep again. The last thing he could remember was the doctors trying to get his nosebleed under control, and after that, he couldn't really recall anything else. As much as he had tried to keep himself from falling asleep in the middle of the crisis, in the end, he couldn't resist it's siren's call, letting it lull him back into it's less than peaceful embrace.

He knew it was a dream, not just for the hazy, dreamlike quality to it, but also because a dream was the only thing that would make any _sense_. If it was a dream, then the fact that it felt as if he knew this place he had never been to in his life would make perfect sense. If it was a dream, the fact that he couldn't understand anything anyone was saying, words that he felt should have been in plain Japanese coming out as nothing more than garbled nonsense, would make perfect sense.

If this were a dream, then it surely would go a long way to explain the man who not only shared his face, but his _voice_ as well. He couldn't make out the words, or rather, he couldn't understand the meaning of them, but at the very least, he recognized the sound of his own voice, if not one that had been altered a bit with age, and was slightly shifted due to the rather monotone quality that it had. It would explain the blank expression on a face that was so much like his own, if not one that was a bit older, an expression he was pretty sure that he himself wasn't capable of making. If this were a dream, it would also go a long way to explain the matching blank expressions on the faces of the children whose features mirrored those of his own at that age far too closely for his own comfort.

He didn't know where he was, but he _knew_ this place. The scenery felt as if it had been etched into the far reaches of his memory, as if it were a scene that he had seen countless of times upon opening his eyes, to the point where even as it faded from what he could recall easily, it never really disappeared from his mind. Even without the garbled sounds of their words, the voices of the people outside were muted in a strange way that she couldn't place, the sounds muted in the same manner. Perhaps that too, was just because this was a dream- but it felt too familiar, as if it were something that he had once experienced long ago.

He didn't know who any of these people were- not even the man who looked too much like him, nor the children who looked too much like them both. Not even the bright face who smiled at him, whose garbled words carried with them a warmth that he could recognize, even though he couldn't understand a thing that she said. It almost felt as if she were the only one with any light in her eyes- everyone around him looked on him as if he were something to observe and study, a cold, clinical expression in them. Even in the middle of his dream, it kind of pissed him off. And yet, in spite of not knowing who they were, he still felt as if he knew them- as if these were people- especially the man who looked too much like him, and the cheerful woman, that he had cause to know.

Even though it didn't really make any sense.

Come to think of it though, he felt as if this weren't the first time something like this had happened. There had surely been other times when he had seen this same scenery in his dreams before- when his head was clouded with a fever, or even further back, when he was much younger than this. He felt as if he had seen dreams similar to this countless times when he was a child. Whenever he had spoken about them to his parents, his father had gotten such a strange look on his face, that he had stopped bringing them up.

Somewhere, in the back of his mind, even in the middle of the dream, he could faintly make out the conversation that he had with his father before he had fallen asleep again- that the two of them weren't related at all. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he could make out the strange look that had crossed Kudo's face when he had brought up his dreams, the way that there were too many things going on that nobody was telling him. Such thoughts were faint and vague, twisting in and out of his consciousness, just as the strange, almost nostalgic dreamlike images did, never staying for too long, never really giving him any time to fully understand them.

In the end, all that they left him was a lasting sense of strangeness, and the knowledge that he knew this place. Just as he felt like he was beginning to understand them, they would fade away from him again, replaced with other images. Some of them he understood better, even if they made just about as much sense as anything else he was seeing- there were people that he knew he knew in them, and not just in a vague, uncertain sense. His father and mother, Kazuha and her parents- people that he knew, though younger than they were now.

Fond images, if not strange. Perhaps it was because a dream, that none of them made sense- he didn't remember anything like this at all, after all, no matter how much of a memory like edge they seemed to have to them. Among the garbled nonsense that came out from their lips, there was one word, over and over, that he got the feeling that he knew more than the others. It was only near the end of his long, long dream that he slowly began to understand that was probably his own name- a word not spoken by the man who looked too much like him, nor the cheerful woman- although in hushed nonsense, gaze darting around as if she was worried someone would hear her, there too, seemed to be a name on her lips, one that he could not understand.

It was when he heard his own name, the one that he knew so well, loud and clear, past all the nonsense, that he realized that the dream was drawing to an end. As if he were using the voice that he knew as a thread, he slowly felt himself stirring, leaving the strange dream, and the strange yet familiar images that it brought with them, behind. Opening his eyes onto a world that was almost brighter than he would have liked, the very first thing his eyes focused on were a field of green- a lush, vibrant color, that he watched relief spread through, a hint of tears which he recognized were not those of sorrow.

" _Heiji_!"

It was only thanks to her lips pressed against his own, that he realized he was no longer wearing an oxygen mask over his face- he seemed to dimly recall something like that. As he slowly began to shake off the vestiges of what felt like a rather long nap, as he slowly began to understand what was going on around him, his brain slowly kicking into gear, he felt his cheeks slowly begin to heat up, turning bright red as what was going on here dawned on him.

When she drew away from him, almost as if she didn't want to stop being so close, her face was equally a bright shade of red, even with the relief that was etched into every corner of her face.

"Kazuha," Heiji managed to croak out, not liking the way his voice cracked, wondering how long it had been since he'd used it, for how many days he had been asleep. "...ya know, this wasn't _exactly_ how I pictured our first kiss."

"Shut up, _idiot_."

* * *

"Stay _still_ , Hattori-kun." With a long suffering sigh, Ai fought back the urge to swat the young man who was making the process of giving him an injection far more difficult than he needed to, all the more annoying since they were rather pressed for time. She didn't want to imagine or find out what the reaction would be if one of the hospital staff, caught what they thought was an elementary school girl injecting an unknown substance into a sick patient under their care. Even if said unknown substance was what was keeping him alive and mostly stable at the moment.

It was easier now that people weren't constantly lingering around his hospital room, coming and going without much warning. Only his mother had remained behind in Tokyo- both his family, Kazuha and her family, had returned home to Osaka. With the immediate death sentence that had been hanging over Heiji's head seemingly having passed, it had allowed them to relax somewhat. While Kazuha came by every evening to come see him and spent the weekends here, and while his father would sometimes show up, securing time alone with Heiji had become a bit easier.

"Sorry, sorry." Flashing her something of an apologetic look, Heiji tried to once more steady himself, leaning against the pillow that they had propped up for him. Since waking up from what had turned out to be a week long medically induced coma- no small wonder then Kazuha had been so relieved to see him awake- his condition had seemed to improve somewhat. He still didn't have much strength, something he quickly discovered when he had tried to get out of bed on his own, but at the very least, he was breathing without aid now "I've never been good with gettin' shots. Especially not from first graders."

"Under what circumstances besides this would you _ever_ get a shot from a first grader?" Ai couldn't help but dryly remark, letting out a small breath as she was finally able to successfully finish the injection. "There we go. With this, you'll be fine until tomorrow. I'll come again after school to give you another one. Still, if your condition worsens for any reason, make sure to page the nurse."

"Thanks, little Neechan." Rubbing his wrist where she had given him it, a slight frown crossing his face, Heiji tugged his sleeve back down over the small mark left behind by the needle. It wasn't really a problem if someone found it- he'd been given so many other shots while he was here, had so much blood drawn from him, that nobody would really think twice about one extra needle mark. Still, it never hurt to play it safe. "I really owe ya one, it seems. I'll repay the favor one of these days."

"If you really wanted to thank me, you could start by _remembering my name_." Ai observed, carefully tucking the needle she had used back away in the case that she had brought it in, tucking that back away in her backpack. "But there's really no need to. This is only just a temporary measure, Hattori-kun. You're not out of the woods yet."

"Believe me, I know that better than anyone else." Heiji observed, frowning a little as he glanced across the room, flashing a small smile towards the second not-child that sat there, one who almost seemed to avoid meeting his eyes once he did so. His frown deepening, he leaned down a bit closer to Ai, brows knitting together in thought. "Did ya know if I did somethin' ta bother Kudo, little Neechan? He's been like this since the other day."

"He just has a few things on his mind, that's all." Ai said simply, getting to her feet, slinging her backpack over her shoulders. She had half a mind to lecture that one herself too- if he kept acting this way, Heiji might get the wrong idea about it somewhere down the line. "I'm sure he'll talk to you about it in due time. He's been fairly busy lately."

"Still lookin' fer my birth parents, huh?" Heiji asked, tilting his head a little. "It almost feels like they're harder ta find than that shady Organization of yers. Ya really think they're carryin' somethin' that will let ya sort out this whole mess?"

"I would hope so." Ai told him simply, sparing a long look back towards Conan, who flinched a little at it. In the end, in spite of his big words about Heiji deserving to know the truth, when it actually came down to it, he hadn't been able to say anything. Heaving a long sigh, she turned back towards Heiji, giving him the kind of practiced smile that she normally reserved for people who had no awareness of what age she actually was. "They share the same DNA as you, after all. I'm certain that the answers we're looking for lie there. In the meantime, all we can do is keep giving you daily injections, at the very least until I perfect a formula that will last a bit longer than that."

That had been a matter that had been discussed with Hattori Heizo- or at the very least, Kudo Shinichi had gotten in contact with the man to inform him that the reason behind Heiji's sudden improvement was due to his aforementioned 'very reliable scientist'. She knew that he had been asking for a chance to meet with her, something which she had been thankfully able to turn down. The less Miyano Shiho had to come out of hiding in the mostly secure location that was Haibara Ai, the better, really.

"Well, do yer best. I'm dependin' on ya." Flashing her a quick grin, Heiji once more peered back over towards his friend, heaving a slight sigh. "Oi, Kudo! Ya just gonna sulk over there, or are ya actually gonna come an' talk ta me? Just because yer not makin' any progress right now, doesn't mean that ya should be so down in the dumps."

"We're making progress just _fine_." Grumbling a little, Conan got to his feet, making his way over towards Heiji's bedside. He knew full well that he was acting a bit out of character towards him- but he couldn't help it! As much as he had promised Heiji he'd tell him the truth, in the end, he couldn't manage to spit a word of it out- quite frankly, he didn't even know where to _start_.

The fact that his own investigation into Kawaguchi Souma hadn't been getting very far didn't help matters much. It would appear that Jodie had found an angle to approach the matter from, but it wasn't one that he could help her out very much with. She was following the trail of funding that Kawaguchi Souma had gotten for his research fifteen years ago, a trail which her predecessors in the FBI had left behind. After it was assumed that Kawaguchi Souma had died in the fire, it would appear that the investigation into the accident, and into his actions during the ten years prior to that, since he had vanished from the public eye had more or less been shelved. After some digging, she had managed to find a lead- but it was also a lead that had required her to leave the country to pursue it.

He'd gone so far as to debate calling his own father about this matter- but for the moment, the less people who knew the truth, the better. Besides, he'd rather _not_ have the very first time his father met Heiji involve something like _this_. If it got to the point where he thought that his father's contacts in Interpol might become useful, then, and only then, would he begrudgingly ask him for help.

Subaru himself had been rather hard to come by lately as well, which annoyed Conan more than anything else. Although he counted the man as an ally, he knew full well that there were things that he wasn't telling him- and if Kawaguchi Souma really had more of a tie to the Organization than first thought, it was entirely possible that he might be trying to keep him out of whatever leg of the investigation that he was looking into right now. Of course, it was also possible that he was simply unable to contact him right now.

Before he had left, he had passed one thing on to Conan- an object that felt as if it were burning a hole in his backpack. A notebook left behind by Makino Suzume, the researcher who had been in charge of helping to create the one who would eventually become known as Hattori Heiji. By all rights, he knew that it was something that Heiji should have- just as Subaru had suspected, there wasn't much information in it that was useful to any of them, only things that confirmed things that they had already since deduced- but there was no way that he could give it to him without first telling him the truth about everything. The truth about himself, the truth about what he was, how he had come into this world and the reason why his body was now trying to leave it, and what sort of man had been the chief force behind his creation.

There was no doubt that the notebook was something that very much belonged to his friend. Perhaps reading it would make the blow of the news that he carried with him easier- he could only hope that was the case.

As it turned out, feeling that Heiji deserved to know the truth, and actually being able to _tell_ him about it were two different things. Even if speaking the truth was usually his whole deal, this instance was proving to be harder than just about anything else he'd ever done- and he'd had to give voice to some pretty difficult truths during his time as a detective. It wasn't that he thought Heiji wouldn't believe him- even though he might think he was joking at first, it wouldn't take him long at all to realize that he was being serious. It was just... more difficult of a subject to breach than he had expected it to be.

How exactly did one tell their best friend that they were an artificially created clone in the first place? Even though he knew Heiji would be able to stand the blow in the end, even if he knew that he would be able to live with it in a way that most people wouldn't be able to, it didn't mean that there _wouldn't_ be one, at first. Breaching the subject with him was proving more and more difficult by the day, especially as a strange new sense of _normalcy_ began to settle over everything, in place of the tense, urgent atmosphere that had been looming just before. In the first place, was it _really_ necessary?

Of course it was. Not telling Heiji was taking the easy way out- and even if he was struggling to find the right words, and the right timing to say them, he did have to tell him eventually. He wasn't going to run away from the truth- he'd be a shame to detectives everywhere if he did. Besides, it was better that he told Heiji himself, rather than have him find out the truth later, and learn that his so-called best friend had known everything the whole time, and hadn't said anything to him.

The last thing he wanted was for Heiji to get the wrong idea about why he was keeping silent. He didn't want him to think that this information had maybe changed something about the way he viewed him. While it was true that even though he had long since accepted the truth as a fact, he was still having a bit of a hard time fully wrapping his head around the idea, and everything that it meant. But it wasn't like it changed anything that actually mattered in the end- however he had come into this world, Heiji was still Heiji, and he was still his best friend, and trusted rival, someone that he considered to be his equal. He was who he was not because of the circumstances of his birth, but because of those around him, those who had shaped him growing up.

On top of all of this, there was still no word as to what it was that Amuro had been up to- although he had eventually turned back up at Poirot after a few days, he was mum as to what he was doing during that time. Whenever Conan tried to ask, he gave him one of those fake smiles of his, and told him that he was busy conducting an investigation for a client. Given the timing, the odds that it was a coincidence were fairly low- and he just had to hope that he _wasn't_ looking into the matter for the Organization. The Public Security Bureau would have doubtlessly had their eye on Kawaguchi Souma at one point, and he could only hope that Amuro wouldn't go too far.

He could only hope that it wouldn't come to that. The last thing Heiji needed to be doing in his condition was getting mixed up with the Organization- especially not if it was him that they were after. As a living sample of the research that they had been trying to recruit Kawaguchi Souma for, nothing good would happen if they managed to get their hands on him. He wanted to help Heiji, not to have created the very sequence of events that would lead him to be used as a lab rat- if he had known that something like this might happen, he would have _never_ asked for him to fill in for him at that Halloween party on that boat.

Because if there was anyone in the Organization who would have cause to know about it's dealings from fifteen years ago, it was Vermouth. It was all he could do to keep a sharp eye out and hope that the researcher had never managed to catch her interest enough to remain in her memory.

"So ya say." Heiji noted, casting him an assessing look. "But I've known ya long enough ta know what that look on yer face means. Any idiot could tell that _something's_ troublin' ya. What's goin' on, Kudo?"

"It's really not like that." Conan told him, shaking his head. "I'm just a little frazzled, that's all. My best friend is in the hospital, how could I _not_ be troubled underneath these circumstances? You don't even really have the strength to _walk_ , Hattori."

"I can walk, just not very well." Heiji protested, sharply narrowing his eyes. As reasonable as his excuse seemed, he wasn't buying it for one second- there was definitely something that Conan was keeping from him. And if he didn't miss his guess, his father, and even the little scientist girl were in on it too. He didn't like the idea of them keeping something important from him- especially not when he suspected it was _about_ him. "I am feelin' better, ya know. At the very least, I can _breathe_ on my own now."

"You still should be careful to avoid exerting yourself, Hattori-kun." Ai noted, sparing him a look. "As I said before, you still have a long way to go before you're out of the woods. I know you have a rather hotblooded side to your personality, but _do_ try and contain it for the time being."

"Yes, yes, ya've told me that much already." Grumbling a little, Heiji leaned back against his pillow, forcing a long sigh from his lips- one that caught him up in a short coughing spell. Holding up a hand to tell the concerned parties that there was nothing to worry about, that it would pass in just a second, he finally took in another long breath of air, glancing back towards them both. As much as he hated to admit it, she was right- he was _nowhere near_ well enough to be up and moving around, even though he _was_ well enough to have that chafe at him. He didn't like being placed under limitations, not for any reason- not even for the sake of his own health.

But he also wasn't about to completely ignore them. As much as he wanted to know what was going on around here behind his back, it wouldn't do him any good if he made himself worse by trying to look into the matter. Kazuha would never forgive him if he did something like that, and he had to put his faith in Conan's promise that he would tell him the truth eventually. He'd come close, very close to it, the first time they had spoken in private when he had come back out of his coma, but in the end, he had backed away from it, as if he somehow weren't ready to say it.

Which, frankly, _didn't_ bode well for whatever it was that was being kept from him. This was about something more than just his biological parents- although they were definitely involved in the matter somehow, whoever they were, wherever they might be. And whatever their reasons were for apparently abandoning him. Whenever he thought about it, his mind invariably found it's way back towards the strange images that he had been seeing in his dreams- and the less he tried to think about them, and what they could mean, the better off he would be.

"We're only just worried about you, Hattori." Conan told him, giving him a small frown. If there was nothing more that Ai could do for him other than what she they were doing now, then he would have to live with this kind of body for the rest of his life- and that wasn't something he wished on anyone, much less as someone who had been as vibrant and active as Heiji had. "Can you blame us? You do tend to be... _pretty_ impulsive sometimes. Act first, think later."

"Well, ya don't need ta worry so much about that." Heiji told him, sparing his friend a glance, somehow managing to give him a quick grin that he didn't entirely feel. "Can't do much actin' in the first place if my body won't let me. Speaking of that, little Neechan, are ya sure there's nothin' that you can do fer my sense of taste? Can't taste a damn thing. Even hospital food's not supposed ta be _this_ bland."

"I'm afraid not." Ai said simply, shaking her head. "Just be grateful that it's the only of your senses that have decided to abandon you. It could be worse, Hattori-kun."

"I guess that's true." Heiji mused, folding his arms in front of his chest. Considering that his condition had been described to him, in no uncertain terms, as his body literally shutting down on him, she definitely had a point. "Well, I won't hold ya up any longer. Kudo's got that look in his eyes like there's somethin' that he's gotta check out," and Heiji held his gaze for a moment longer, long enough to deliver a message that he was expecting to be included in this at some point, "...an' I'm sure the both of ya have yet had the chance to delve into the thrillin' world of first grade homework."

" _Hilarious_." Conan remarked dryly, acting as if he _hadn't_ purposefully broken off eye contact with him. It was a gaze that he couldn't yet hold. "Well, we'll see you tomorrow then, Hattori. Take care of yourself in the meantime. Tell Kazuha-chan that we said hello when she gets back here from Osaka."

"Tomorrow's Saturday. She'll be stayin' over at the agency anyways, so say hi ta her yerself, Kudo." Heiji remarked. Watching as the two not children left his hospital room, Heiji closed his eyes. Already, he was feeling the tug of sleep pull at him, and even though he knew that it meant he would have to see those same strange dreams again, the ones that he didn't want to think about too hard, he knew there wasn't much he could do to fight it.

Perhaps nobody had said it in so many words to him- but he didn't have to be told to know full well that he was very much _still_ dying. Just at a far, far slower pace than he had been before. After all, he understood his own body better than anyone.

Or at least, that was what he had _thought_. Amidst everything that had been going on lately, he couldn't help but feel that maybe that wasn't quite as true as he had always thought.

* * *

"Pardon me, but might I take up a moment of your time?"

As the nurse working at the receptionist desk glanced up from her paperwork, she felt a faint tint of pink creep into her cheeks. It wasn't that often that such an attractive young man came by here, she couldn't help but take note of the rather politely smiling young man who had called out to her. "Ah, yes, of course. What is it that I can do for you, sir?"

"I'm looking for a patient who I believe is staying here at the moment." The young man told her, his smile not wavering from his face. "His name is Hattori Heiji."

"Ah, him?" A look of understanding seemed to draw across the woman's face, her hands hovering over the keyboard she had been about to type in. With that patient, there was no need- there wasn't a single person working in the hospital who _hadn't_ heard of him by now, really. "He's on the third floor, in room 305. I must warn you if you're thinking of paying him a visit, he might not be awake right now."

"That's fine." The young man said, shaking his head. "I can wait. I have plenty of time."

"Well, suit yourself then, I suppose." The nurse told him, before she paused. "Ah, one moment though. Is there a chance that I could get your name before you go? I need to record it down for the visitor's log."

"Of course." Turning briefly back on his heel, the young man gave her another polite smile- and this time, she couldn't help but take notice that his eyes, at least, weren't smiling.

"I'm Amuro Tooru."


	11. Artificial

**AN** : Boy oh boy, this chapter, have I ever been waiting to write it ever since the start of the fic. Obviously, since I started this fic before the manga chapter in which Heiji and Amuro finally met in canon, we're just going to kind of pretend that didn't happen, or I guess that this fic split off from canon right before that point. But anyways, here it is, chapter eleven, where the plot really begins to start to pick up the pace! I'm really, really, looking forward to what's coming in future chapters, so I hope everyone else is as well!

Until next time!

* * *

 **Collapse**

 **Chapter Eleven**

 **Artificial**

* * *

There was something about this guy that made his skin crawl. He didn't know who he was, or how long he had been here- but at the very least, the one thing that Heiji _did_ know about this stranger was the fact that he didn't feel like he could trust him one bit. Perhaps his admittedly vulnerable state had left him a bit paranoid, and it was actually nothing.

Or perhaps not.

"Good evening." With a polite smile on his face that looked as artificial as it could get, the young man introduced himself. "I'm Amuro Tooru. You are Hattori Heiji, are you not?"

"Nah, I'm some random stranger who likes lyin' in other people's hospital beds." Heiji couldn't help but quip, the strange feeling that he got from this person not nearly enough to nip his sense of humor in the bud. " _Of course_ I'm Hattori Heiji."

"Quite the sharp tongue you have on you." Amuro couldn't help but observe, merely lifting one brow, not letting his smile drop as of yet.

"In what world would someone _not_ be annoyed ta find some strange man in their hospital room when they wake up?" Heiji couldn't help but note, forcing himself to sit up, narrowing his eyes. Out of the corner of his eye, he couldn't help but take notice of the fact that the switch used to call the nurse had been disconnected at some point- there was no way this guy was any kind of run of the mill visitor. "Ya got a hobby of watchin' people ya don't know sleep? That's pretty creepy."

"Hardly." Keeping the slight twitch his words gave him internal, Amuro didn't let his pleasant expression falter. He had heard that Hattori Heiji was a rather sharp tongued, temperamental youth, but it would appear as if that was very much the case. He couldn't help but wonder how it was that the Edogawa boy seemed to get along with him, when as far as he could tell, the two of them seemed to have rather clashing personalities. "I came here to ask you a few questions, Hattori-kun."

"Well, that's a change of pace." Heiji couldn't help but note, quirking a brow. "Usually _I'm_ the one doin' the question askin'. An' I can't say that I don't have more than a few about ya myself. Yer certainly pretty enough ta be a nurse, but somehow I don't get the feelin' yer one, Amuro-han."

"I'm afraid not." Amuro said simply, shaking his head. "The two of us are in the same line of work, I suppose you could say. Just like you, I'm a detective."

"Oh?" Arching his brows, this information only served to make him more suspicious of him. Who was this guy? There was definitely something shady about him, no matter how he looked at it- that smile of his sure was polite, but it was completely artificial, no matter how he looked at it. It would barely pass as a customer service smile. "An' what is it that another detective wants with me, then? If yer askin' fer my help with a case, I'm afraid I'm not really in much of a condition ta provide anyone assistance right now."

"No, I believe you'll be able to help me just fine as you are now." Amuro said simply. "Does the name Kawaguchi Souma ring any bells with you?"

"Kawaguchi?" Heiji asked, tilting his head. There was something about that name that faintly bothered him, but he couldn't say he remembered anyone who went by it. "Can't say that I've ever heard of it."

"In that case, what about Makino Suzume?" Amuro asked after a moment, carefully gauging his reaction. He was certain that he wasn't mistaken, even though the young man had barely flinched at the name. Still, to think that a key to finding someone that both the Organization and the Public Security Bureau had been searching for, for some time now, had been lying underneath their noses all this time- he couldn't help but find it more than a little ironic.

To think that that man had really succeeded in making a clone- even if it was one that was now falling apart. Were the Organization to learn of this, they would probably stop at nothing to obtain him as a research sample, in lieu of the actual researcher himself. He couldn't quite say that the idea of a human lab rat sat all that well with him, but he wasn't really in a position to oppose them if they managed to piece together the puzzle themselves. And given that his orders this time had come from none other than _that woman_ , it was probably only a matter of time.

He couldn't say that he wasn't interested in finding out what would happen if that Edogawa boy learned of such a thing, if such a thing were allowed to happen. To what lengths he would go in order to rescue someone that he considered a friend, from those very same ones that for whatever reason, he was hell bent on chasing. From what he had managed to gather about their relationship, the two of them appeared to be rather close- and judging from his recent movements, there was no doubt that Edogawa Conan had come to the same conclusion about Hattori Heiji that he had.

One that he hadn't bothered to share with the person himself, it would seem.

"No, I don't know 'em either." Heiji said, shaking his head. There was something about that name that bothered him as well, but once again, he couldn't quite place what it was. "I don't suppose yer interested in tellin' me what it is that ya really want from me, Amuro-han? There must be a reason why yer askin' me about these people, right?"

"Naturally." Amuro said simply, his smile growing somewhat more cold. "But what a shame, Hattori-kun. I thought for certain that you would at the very least remember the names of your own parents, if nothing else. Well," closing his eyes, he couldn't help but let out a small laugh. "...although I suppose it's something of a stretch to refer to them as that. It is a fact that they both _made_ you, at the very least."

Just as he thought they would, those words almost instantly earned the young man's attention- and his ire. His current condition apparently did _nothing_ to tame the fury of his temper, and when it lashed out, he could almost feel the heat brushing him. While it didn't really faze him, he couldn't help but note how _different_ the clone was from the original. He had been rather young himself when Kawaguchi Souma was last in the news, but judging from the information that he had gathered about the researcher in the past week, he couldn't help but feel that the young man in front of him was a rather hard argument for the importance of nurturing.

"What's that supposed ta mean!?" Heiji all but demanded, all but glowering at Amuro. Shifting a little in his bed, he half wanted to swing his feet right out of it, and storm right over to him- but the wave of dizziness that just moving so suddenly sent through him nipped that in the bud. Gripping the railing of the bed as tightly as he could just to keep himself from falling over, it took several moments for his vision to stop dancing. Even if he did manage to get over to him, he wasn't confident that he could even remain standing, and any physical threat that he attempted to direct him would likely fall pathetically flat.

Not being able to move his body the way he wanted to was _seriously_ the worst. He wasn't used to being this _useless_.

"There's no reason to get so upset." Amuro noted, a mock expression of surprise in his eyes, as if this wasn't _exactly_ how he thought he would react. "I would have thought that Conan-kun would have already told you about your parents by now, Hattori-kun. It would seem that I was mistaken, though."

It was almost amusing to watch the way his words took the wind out of his sails, in a way that his own body failing to respond the way he wanted it to hadn't. Hattori Heiji did indeed seem to be a rather resilient young man- but hearing something like that was more than enough to douse the flames that had been lit inside of him, and very quickly at that. Still, perhaps entirely _because_ he was so resilient, Amuro supposed, he quickly managed to gather together enough embers to light that flame again- though it wasn't quite as strong as before.

"What are ya tryin' ta say here, Amuro-han?" Heiji asked, his eyes narrowing, carrying as much of a threat on his voice as he could manage. Who the hell was this guy? He hadn't heard Kudo mention anything about him before- did he really know him? "Why are ya talkin' like ya know anythin' about Conan-kun?"

"I know him quite well." Amuro noted, that artificial smile once more forming on his lips. "I've worked with him together a number of times now, as I've heard you have as well. He's quite something, isn't he, that child? He has quite a bit of talent for his young age."

"Cut the crap already!" Raising his voice became something that Heiji almost instantly regretted, a series of hard coughs escaping from his throat, ones that left him shaking as he tried to breathe through them again, cutting short anything else he wanted to say.

"My, my, there's no need to get so worked up, especially in your condition." Amuro said simply, a look of mock concern crossing his face. Still, he supposed he should be a little bit more careful- he couldn't have the only living link he had to that man dying on him just yet. "You should really be careful, Hattori-kun. That body of yours wasn't exactly _designed_ to last, after all. It's a miracle that you've managed to live this long."

"What's that-" Unable to finish his sentence as he struggled for breath, Heiji finally managed to once more take in and let out a deep breath, feeling it slowly starting to steady. Still, his glare, at the very least, never faded, locking firmly onto Amuro's face. What the hell was this guy saying? He was talking as if he somehow understood everything, even though Kudo was still looking for those very same answers himself.

...He _was_ still looking for them, wasn't he? He hadn't already found them, and just wasn't telling him what was going on, was he? To think that Kudo would leave him out of something so important, something that was literally _about_ him... For a moment, a cold feeling crept it's way up his spine, recalling the strange way he had been behaving around him lately- avoiding eye contact, acting as if he was putting something of a distance between the two of them.

Sometimes it almost felt like he was avoiding him.

No, no, Kudo would never do that! He was only distracted because he was busy trying to locate his actual biological parents, that was all! There was no reason that he needed to put any faith into the words of this shady character, even if he _claimed_ to know his friend. In the first place, there was no way that Kudo would ever work together with someone like as shady as this!

Still what was with this guy's choice of words? He was already well aware of the fact that his body was falling apart, but _designed_? _Made_? That almost made him sound like some kind of-

For a moment, just a moment, a cold chill gripped him, sending another shiver running down his spine. Unbidden, the strange images from his dreams bubbled forward from the depths of his mind, where he tried to hide them away in his waking hours. That strange scenery, those strange people... that place that he knew and didn't know.

Designed. Made. Children with identical faces. An overwhelmingly bad feeling began to rise up in the pit of his stomach.

"I see." Amuro said simply, blinking in slight surprise. He supposed that even someone like Edogawa Conan, whose life seemed to revolve around the pursuit of the truth, might have trouble telling this one. "You really _don't_ know anything, Hattori-kun? But from that look on your face... it would seem that you have at least some idea of what I'm getting at here anyways. It would appear that not all of your early childhood memories have left you after all."

"In that case," and as his smile turned somewhat more cold, his expression more icy, he could make out the faint sound of tiny footsteps racing down the hall towards them. "...why don't I do you a favor, and tell you everything? It's not the sort of truth that should be hidden from you in the first place. It's the least I can do for someone in the same line of work as me."

* * *

"Oh, are you here to see your friend again, boy? You're early as usual."

"Yeah!" With a nod of his head, Conan gave the nurse who called out to him the best smile that he could. He wasn't really surprised that the nurses had started to recognize Heiji's frequent visitors at this point- from his understanding, he was the subject of a fair amount of nurse gossip. He couldn't say that it didn't really surprise him- given the mysterious nature of his condition, it probably attracted a good degree of attention.

"Do you know if he's awake yet, _onee-chan_?" Even with his condition somewhat improved thanks to Ai's drug, he still spent a fair amount of time sleeping. It was probably better for his body, even if it _could_ be a bit annoying to visit him and find that he was asleep.

With a shake of her head, she gave him something of an apologetic look. "No, I don't really know. At the very least, he hasn't called for a nurse yet this morning, and Hikawa-sensei isn't scheduled to come by for another hour."

"I see. Then, I'll guess I'll just have to go and see for myself!" Conan said. "Has Kazuha-oneechan come by yet?" She had opted to spend the night with Heiji's mother instead of the detective agency, so for all he knew, she might already be here, chatting away with him. If that was the case, he probably wouldn't be able to give him the notebook today either.

Nor tell him the truth, for that matter. Each day that went by, the words that went unspoken weighed on him all the more. He had spent any number of hours, when he wasn't following any thread he could find to locate Kawaguchi Souma, rehearsing what to tell Heiji, trying to find the words that would soften the unavoidable blow at least a little.

He was a detective. Telling the truth _should_ have been second nature to him. But when it was something like this, and about someone who had become important to him before he even knew it... it was proving harder than he could have ever imagined. The guilt that mounted day by day from the things that went unsaid certainly didn't help matters any.

If Heiji was the one in his shoes right now, he probably wouldn't be having this much trouble. He'd probably just blurt it out without thinking too much about it, and then scramble to try and clean up the aftermath. That was the way he was, after all- he was painfully honest, even when he did his best to lie. As much trouble as that could bring him sometimes, it wasn't a trait of his that he disliked.

"Ah, that girl with the ponytail?" The nurse asked, shaking her head once more. "No, she hasn't come by yet this morning. Ah, although he should still have a visitor, judging from the fact that I haven't seen that young man leave yet. Maybe he really is awake, then?"

"Eh? A visitor?" Conan blinked. Judging from the way she spoke, it didn't seem as if the visitor was one of those who came by often- maybe it was one of his classmates? One of his fellow kendo team members was a possibility as well. There was also Hakuba Saguru, he guessed, but it probably wasn't him. As far as he knew, that guy was still in England. "Who? Someone I know?"

"Mm, I haven't seen him with you before." The nurse said after a moment, placing a finger on her chin in thought, tilting her head slightly. "It's the first time he's come here, I think. He might be related to him though. The hair color and texture is different, but they're both dark skinned, although that young man is a _bit_ lighter, I think. He was pretty good looking! I think his name was..."

For a moment, Conan felt as if he were choking on his own breath, a chill running through him, as if an icy hand had reached out to grab him. From the description that the nurse had given him, there was only person who entered his mind, only one person that he knew that matched that description.

He knew that there was a high chance that the matter that Amuro was looking into was the very same one he was, but he never could have imagined that he would have so boldly come to this hospital on his own. Even though a small part of his mind, one that remained calm even as a wave of fear crashed over him told him that there was probably no way that Amuro could manage to leave the hospital unnoticed with Heiji when it was this busy, he could help but feel a surge of panic rise up within him.

It wasn't so much what Amuro would do to him that worried him- it was what Amuro might _tell_ him.

"It wasn't Amuro Tooru, was it?" Conan finally asked, feeling his voice come back to him. What felt like forever was in reality probably only a few seconds, judging from the fact that the nurse wasn't looking at him strangely at all.

"Ah yes! It was!" The nurse said, nodding her head, a smile crossing her face, unwitting to the thoughts swirling around the head of the not child she was speaking with. "He should still be there right now. Do you know him, boy?"

"Y-yeah, a bit." Conan said, nodding his head slowly. The last thing he wanted to do was to turn this into a big deal, to raise the nurse's alarm, giving her the feeling that something was wrong. "Then, I'll go see Heiji-niichan now, onee-chan!" With a slight wave of his hand, he walked as quickly as he dared, until he turned the corner- at which point, he broke out into a run.

He didn't even have to ask what Amuro was here for- that much he already knew. The real question was _who_ he was here for. The Organization? The Public Security Bureau? Would the latter even be that much of a better option? He had introduced himself as Amuro Tooru, and not as Furuya Rei, but that didn't necessarily _mean_ anything. He might have just been trying to cover his tracks should the Organization look into his whereabouts.

Had long ago had he arrived? He really should have asked that before dashing off, but he had been such in a hurry to get to Heiji's room, that it hadn't even entered his head. Was Heiji already awake? He could only hope that he was still asleep, and that he hadn't heard anything from Amuro, hadn't spoken with him at all. In the back of his mind though, he already knew that his luck wasn't that good.

Why hadn't he told Heiji anything sooner? Why had he wasted this much time debating how to tell him? The truth was going to come out at some point, and he was probably the best person to tell it to him. On the list of people who might possibly know the truth, Amuro Tooru was at the bottom of the list of people who should be the one to tell Heiji anything. Even _Vermouth_ would have been a better option- at least the actress had some idea of how to watch her words.

But _Amuro_?

The only person who would probably be worse would be Kawaguchi Souma himself.

" _In that case_ ," he could just make out Amuro's voice now, as he drew closer to Heiji's hospital room. Not only was Heiji probably awake, but from the sound of it, Amuro had already been speaking with him for awhile. This wasn't good!

 _"...why don't I do you a favor, and tell you everything? It's not the sort of truth that should be hidden from you in the first place. It's the least I can do for someone in the same line of work as me."_

" _Don't say another word!_ " His voice ringing out far louder than he had intended for it to, Conan threw open the door to Heiji's room, almost out of breath. Ascending several flights of stairs when it a somewhat panicked state really wasn't easy. Resting one hand on the door that he had shoved aside, Conan looked up towards the two of them, only taking a second more to catch his breath. "Don't say another word, Amuro-san!"

"Oh, what a surprise. You're here rather early, Conan-kun." Amuro's expression barely even flinched, even as he turned his full attention towards him. "And why shouldn't I say anything more? You make it sound as if you already know what I'm going to say. If that's the case, why doesn't your friend here know anything? He _is_ your friend, right?"

"Just get out of here, Amuro-san." Narrowing his eyes, Conan took a few steps forward. He didn't really feel much like putting on an act right now, given the circumstances. More than anything else, he just wanted Amuro _gone_. "I don't know who it is you're here for just yet, but please leave."

That expression on Heiji's face... he didn't like it one bit. It was one that he had never seen before- and never one he wanted to see again. An expression that told him that whatever it was that Amuro had managed to get out, it had been enough to plant a seed of doubt within him- enough to possibly disturb things that were better forgotten. He couldn't help but let his thoughts drift back, to what Heiji had told him shortly before he had set out in search for Souma's younger sister.

 _"I don't know if it has any relation ta anythin' or not, but lately, I've been havin' pretty weird dreams."_

If those dreams were actually largely forgotten memories... why hadn't he said anything sooner?

"If you're going to say it like that, I suppose I have no choice." Amuro said simply, before turning his attention back towards Heiji, giving him another cold smile. "Then, perhaps I'll come and ask you a few more questions at another time, Hattori-kun. Perhaps you'll start to remember the things that you thought you had already forgotten. If you remember anything that could help to locate the man who _created_ you, I would be more than interested in hearing you out."

" _Amuro_!" The man's name, sans all honorifics in his anger, came out almost as a hiss, Conan's eyes narrowing sharply, even as the man himself all but breezed by him. He wasn't usually one to lose his temper this badly- that was more of Heiji's area, ironically, but given the circumstances, he couldn't help it. Of all the things, why did he have to say that?

If there was ever a time in which he had wanted to give the man a soccer ball to the head, now was it. Still, he restrained himself. There were more important things to deal with right now- like doing what he could to perform damage control.

"Hattori-" Conan began, reaching out to slide the door shut behind him again. Hopefully his earlier shout hadn't attracted _too_ much attention. He would hate to be interrupted at a time like this.

"Kudo." The cold tone of his voice wasn't one that Conan was familiar with either- at the very least, he had never had it directed at _him_. That expression he carried within his eyes as he finally turned to face him, the expression that he couldn't help but feel had no place on the face of the usually cheerful and quick tempered Hattori Heiji, was almost enough to make him look away.

Ah. He knew. He knew that he knew.

Of course he was mad. He couldn't blame him at all. He had promised that he would tell him later, when he didn't have to give everything he had to fighting for his life. He had promised, and then he had kept the truth to himself. Even worse, he had basically _lied_ to him. Searching for his biological parents? He didn't have anything like that to begin with. Certainly, in a sense, one could consider Kawaguchi Souma and Makino Suzume as his parents, if one wanted to, but not in the conventional meaning of the word.

"Hattori, I meant-" Conan began again, only to find himself cut off once more.

"Get out." The words came out short, as Heiji turned his gaze away from him, as if he was unable to look at him anymore. For once, it was impossible to tell what was going through his head. Whatever sync they fell into when solving mysteries together felt as if it had been destroyed. "Just give me some space, Kudo."

"Hattori..." Trailing off a little, unable to think of a single thing to say, words failing him for once. Finally, he let out a long breath, slowly nodding his head. "Alright. I'll give you some space, Hattori. But at the very least, you still need to see Haibara when she comes in an hour. Without that shot, you'll..."

"I know." Heiji's words were once more short, and straight to the point, as he closed his eyes. "But fer now, I don't want ta see ya."

That hit him far harder than he wanted to admit, and it was all Conan could do to swallow back an apology. Now wasn't the right time for it. "Then, I'll let myself out. We can talk when you're feeling more up to it."

Giving the one who had worked his way into his life without warning, the one who had become not only his rival, but his best friend, one last long look, Conan finally turned on his heel, heading back outside, shutting the door behind him. Taking in and letting out a deep breath, he was grateful for the glare of the overhead light on his glasses, so that nobody passing by could see the expression on his own face.

He had made a mistake. He shouldn't have waited. He had thought he was just trying to be considerate of Heiji's feelings by trying to work out the perfect way to tell him the truth- but in reality, now that this had happened, he realized that he never had any intention of telling him it in the first place. For all of his big words, for all of his promises- he had planned to take his silence to the grave, making up one excuse after another about why he wasn't telling Heiji today either.

Heiji was straightforward and honest. It was only reasonable to expect that he hated being lied to, didn't like things being kept from him. And from someone he considered unfailingly to be his best friend, someone he had probably started to think of one long before Conan really started to return the feelings himself, of course it would hurt him. And given the extent of what was being kept from him, a secret about his very self, his very existence... he had every right to angry with him.

Knowing that didn't make it hurt less, though.

At the very least, he could try tracking down Amuro to find out exactly what he was up to- or rather, _who_ he was working for today.

* * *

It wasn't as if he had forgotten that cellphone use was forbidden in this area of the hospital, it was just that he didn't quite care at the moment. It was only after he heard the sound of small footsteps heading away from his room that he reached for it, almost by instinct. It had been turned off ever since he had been taken here, and he could only blankly stare at the screen as it turned on, his thoughts still reeling.

He didn't even know where to start trying to think. He was usually so good at that, too- at finding the right thread to follow, one that would lead him to the path of truth. But now, with his phone in his hand, it was all he could do to just stare at the search bar, unable to type anything in just yet, still trying to get a grips on what had just happened, on what he had just heard.

 _"If you remember anything that could help to locate the man who_ _ **created**_ _you, I would be more than interested in hearing you out."_

It hadn't been a mistake. That man had definitely said that, with those exact words. His word choices from earlier probably had been just as deliberate. In the back of his mind, even though his eyes were wide open, faces from his dreams danced before him, almost feeling more vivid than they had been before. An older man who looked too much like him. A round faced woman with woman with a kind smile.

People he knew and didn't know.

 _"Does the name Kawaguchi Souma ring any bells with you?"_

His fingers finally moved, starting to type in the first name that had been given to him- before hesitated, doubling back on what he had typed, erasing it. In it's place, he typed the second name instead, hoping that he got the kanji right. If not, he would keep looking. He got the vague feeling that he already knew what she looked like.

Of course, he had already accepted the fact that he wasn't his parent's biological son. Something as minor as that wasn't an issue. They had raised him ever since he was young, after all, so they were pretty much his parents however that he looked at it. At the time, he had just assumed that he had been abandoned somewhere, and his father had ended up picking him up somewhere. Maybe to soothe his wife, mourning the loss of one of their own children.

He knew as well that his blood related family probably had something to do with his current illness, but...

Makino Suzume. It was the name of a genetics researcher who had died in an accident fifteen years ago, at the age of twenty eight. It was also the name of the round faced woman with the kind smile that he had been seeing lately in his dreams. A face that he had no reason to know.

A laboratory explosion, followed by a subsequent fire, which had been ruled an accident by the local police.

The _Osakan_ police.

First responding officer, _Hattori Heizo_.

Owner of the laboratory, _Kawaguchi Souma_.

He almost didn't want to move forward. It would be fine if he just accepted the notion that this woman was probably his biological mother, and that he had coincidently been there at the time of the accident. Perhaps he had lost his memories as a result, and that was why he was only remembering anything about her now. That would be fine. It would be a perfectly fine truth, painless. She seemed like a nice woman- he was pretty sure that his mother would like her.

But it wasn't the truth. For the first time in as long as he could remember, which apparently wasn't nearly long as he thought, Heiji couldn't help but curse the fact that he was, in fact, a detective. Ever since he had decided that he was going to be one in the future, that he was going to seek out justice and the truth, he hadn't wavered. There were times where he had doubts about himself, to be sure, but he had never once thought about trying to be anything else.

He was a detective, someone who sought out the truth. And this wasn't the truth.

" _Shit_."

The curse escaped from his lips as he took that step forward, before he sealed off the chance of doing so forever. Once he did so, he knew that he never could go back. Whatever was waiting for him was bound to be something that would shatter everything he had known about himself up until this point.

He had thought that he had known himself better than anyone else, thought he knew his body better than anyone else. But as she gazed at a face that was far too close to his own, as the small part of his brain that was still somehow active read the words next to it, he realized that wasn't true at all. He didn't know the first thing about himself, and there were too many others who knew himself better than he did.

His father. Kudo. That little neechan. Probably even Kazuha's father. Hell, maybe his mother and Otaki even knew. Each and every one of them, lying to him, about everything. About something this important.

There was some part of him, even now, in the middle of a whirl of feelings that was so complicated, he couldn't even begin picking them out, that knew the reason behind their lies was probably some form of kindness, that he was being unreasonable. Those who had been around him from the start probably just wanted him to be able to live a normal life. Those who had only learned as his life was hanging in the balance probably only wanted to not cause him any further problems. Maybe he'd be able to accept that one day, but today definitely wasn't that day.

And this man.

Kawaguchi Souma.

A man who had once been held up as a brilliant scientific researcher, a prodigy, a beacon of the genetics field, only to be exiled from the scientific world because of that very same research. A man who had spent ten years lying underneath the radar, before his name reappeared in the papers, in the aftermath of a deadly accident. A man who the world thought dead- but judging from what he had heard, he knew otherwise.

The man who had _created_ him.

Made. Designed. Created.

No wonder he had never been able to beat Kudo, not even once. No wonder how much he trained, he could never beat that bastard Okita. It was probably impossible for him from the start. No wonder why, in the back of his mind, even as he tried to cover it up, he had always had a complex, a feeling of inferiority. After all, he was only an inferior copy of a human, flawed from the very beginning. He wasn't even made to last.

What a joke.

Swearing underneath his breath once more, Heiji could only clutch at his phone, wondering what he had to do to get it to stop spitting out such obvious lies. There was no way such a thing was true! There was no way he could be, that he was-!

Even in his current state, all of his might was just enough to shatter his phone, not even realizing he had thrown it until it had hit the wall. From the sound alone, he was pretty sure it was broken now, but he supposed it didn't matter. Even that little neechan could extend his life, what the hell could she do if he was flawed from the very start?

Air. He needed some fresh air. He wasn't thinking straight. Staggering to his feet, he had to reach out, tightly grasping the desk next to his bed just to help himself stand up straight. What a sorry state he was in- not just his body, but now his mind was all in a jumble too. It was good that nobody else was here to see him now, like this- he didn't want to show this kind of pathetic side of him to anyone else.

He needed some air.

He needed some answers.

Above anything else, he needed to know what he thought really was the truth. In the end, he only knew one way to do that.

But still, to think that he had been so annoyed by that shady guy's artificial smile, when it turned out that _everything_ about himself was artificial. Even now, the irony was enough to make him laugh, even if it was a dry, bitter sound.

* * *

"Wait a second, Haibara, I can't understand you if you don't calm down. What's the problem?" Grumbling a little into his phone, Conan switched the hand he held it with. He hadn't had any luck in finding Amuro after that- he must have gotten into a car and driven off. At the very least, he had managed to get in touch with Jodie, and confirm with her that Amuro was investigating the Kawaguchi Souma matter, though for _which_ group, he didn't know. She had promised that they would send someone to watch over the hospital that Heiji was staying in, and that provided him with some small amount of relief.

He didn't think that Amuro would turn over Heiji to the Organization to be used as a lab rat, but he really couldn't put anything past him.

Still, it was unusual to hear Ai sound this bothered about something- had something happened? Glancing down at his watch, wondering what time it was, for a moment he felt his blood run cold, his earlier words once more coming back to haunt him.

 _"But at the very least, you still need to see Haibara when she comes in an hour. Without that shot, you'll..."_

"He's _gone_ , Kudo-kun. Hattori-kun is missing."


	12. Lab Rat

**AN** : Well, well, this is quite the chapter, isn't it? Things are really heating up now! I'm happy to present chapter twelve to everyone, and hopefully people enjoy it just as much as I enjoyed writing! Don't forget to leave a review with your impressions at the end, too!

Until next time!

* * *

 **Collapse**

 **Chapter Twelve**

 **Lab Rat**

* * *

Running up several flights of stairs was _not_ how he preferred to get his daily exercise, Conan couldn't help but conclude as he once more found himself dashing up the very same set of stairs that he had before, not even an hour ago. For the second time today, he found himself out of breath from more than just exercise by the time he reached Heiji's room.

"Haibara!" That was all he managed to get out at first, resting a hand against the door frame as he fought to take in a few more breaths. Finally drawing in a long one, his shoulders slumped, looking across the room at the shrunken scientist, who appeared to have been waiting for him the entire time. "Is it true?"

"I would think that you would be able to tell that much with your own eyes, Kudo-kun." Taking a step forward, Ai glanced back towards the room itself, which was indeed, empty of it's occupant. The various wires that had been connected to him, monitoring his condition, as well as the IV drip that had been inserted into his arm, had all been removed, hanging limply in his absence. "Don't tell me that your detective skills have started to grow a bit rusty?"

"Now's not the time for that." Stepping inside, Conan glanced around the room, narrowing his eyes. "Where's Kazuha-chan? She should be here today."

"She was here earlier. When she discovered that Hattori-kun was missing, she contacted the nurses, and they're currently searching the hospital for him." Ai informed him. "If we're lucky, then he hasn't gone far. Considering his condition, it's possible."

"You make it sound like you think he left on his own." Conan noted, a slight frown crossing his features. What if after he left, Amuro had...? No, no, he was nowhere to be found in the hospital, or in the surrounding area- he had checked rather thoroughly for him. Besides, if he had taken Heiji out of the hospital, someone would have noticed.

"His clothes are gone." Ai told him simply, turning her gaze towards the small dresser that was in the room. The implication of his words bothered her, but for the moment, she would focus on answering his question. "His shoes as well, not to mention that cap he likes, and his wallet. The only thing he didn't take..." reaching into her pants pocket, she pulled out a shattered cellphone, passing it over towards Conan. "...was his cellphone. Well, not that it would have been of much use to him, given the look of it. It won't even turn on."

"Where did you find this?" Taking it from her, Conan's frown deepened, carefully studying the shattered phone. It must have been thrown with quite some force to break it like this- but if they took out the memory card, they would probably be able to see what Heiji had been doing with it before he'd thrown it.

Even though he had a feeling that he already knew what they would find, even without having to check it.

"In the corner of the room, over there." Ai told him, glancing towards where she meant. "The only thing missing from it is that charm of his, but considering the fact that he's never taken it off his wrist since that Toyama girl put it there over a week ago, that's probably with him as well."

"But why would he do something like this?" Stalking the room, searching for any answers that might somehow be hidden away in it, Conan's grip on the ruined cellphone tightened. "He should _know_ that he needs that shot, otherwise his condition will worsen again. I told him as much."

"Did you forget who it is we're dealing with here, Kudo-kun?" Ai asked, a sigh escaping from her. She didn't know what had happened, but it was clear that something very much had- and judging from the way he was acting, the odds that Heiji now knew the truth were rather high. "In case you've forgotten, Hattori-kun can be rather hotblooded and impulsive. If the circumstances are right for it, the decisions that he makes might not always be the best ones. Just because his body is falling apart on him doesn't mean that quality of his is suddenly going to vanish."

"He probably had some kind of reason for leaving the hospital," Ai began, fixing her gaze on Conan, casting a rather sharp eye towards him. From the way that he seemed to avert his eyes from her gaze, it would appear that her suspicions were right on the mark. "...and I suspect you have an idea as to _why_. And perhaps even _where_ he might have gone."

"I don't-" Opening his mouth to protest this fact, Conan stopped in his tracks, doubling back on his statement. He did have an idea as to both of those things- if Amuro had told him what he suspected he had, then Heiji definitely would have gone hunting for answers of his own. It wouldn't be all that hard to figure out what Conan had been able to learn for himself, especially if Amuro had been thoughtful enough to leave him with any names. There was no way he wouldn't recognize his own face in that of Kawaguchi Souma's, and from there, it would only be a matter of time before he began to figure out the truth.

Amuro... that bastard. Double agent or not, he would never forgive him for this. He had no right to say such things to Heiji, to plant such ideas in his head! Out of all the ways for him to find out, that had to be one of the worst. Still, it was also true that if he had told him the truth earlier, something like this wouldn't have happened. It would have probably still have been a blow for his friend- but not as hard as the one that he had ended up taking.

He could only hope that it wasn't more than he could bear. Heiji was a strong person- but it wasn't like he hadn't noticed the hints that he displayed every now and again, when he was willing to let his guard down that far. Seeds of an inferiority complex, of self doubt, of deeply rooted feelings of inadequacy. For the longest time, he had always thought that they were there because he had grown up in the shadow of his father, that his competitive nature was the result of him feeling that he needed to constantly prove himself.

Perhaps he had always subconsciously known the truth, always aware of it on some deep level, even if he didn't have any conscious knowledge of it. If his need to prove himself was the result of something far more fundamental, the result of his desire to prove that he could match up to normal humans, then suddenly, too many things made sense about him.

He should have never left him alone. Even if he wanted to respect his wishes for privacy, he could have just waited outside of his door, or by the stairwell. There was no need for him to chase after Amuro, so long as he monitored Heiji's room, watching for anyone suspicious entering it.

Or keeping an eye out for anyone _leaving_ it, as the case turned out. What was Heiji thinking? He still didn't have the strength to walk properly, and yet he had run away from the hospital. He knew that Heiji could be impulsive, but _still_...

Maybe he felt betrayed, like he couldn't rely on anyone else right now. No, it wasn't a question of maybe- he _definitely_ did. After all, people so close to him had been aware of the truth, some of them for as long as they had known him. He wasn't an idiot, so he probably already understood the reasons why people were keeping such an important fact about himself a secret, but that knowledge alone wouldn't lessen the hurt that it caused him.

Even the one who had promised him that he would tell him everything, had instead chosen to lie to him. If he hadn't done that, then...

"You're right. I do have an idea as to where Hattori might be heading." Breaking from his thoughts, Conan nodded his head, tucking away Heiji's shattered cellphone into his own pocket. He didn't want to let Kazuha see something like this- even though keeping people in the dark had caused this in the first place, the only person he wanted to tell her about what was going on was Heiji himself.

And if the Organization really _had_ caught wind of his existence, and what it meant, then he couldn't allow her to involve herself in something so dangerous in the first place. He stood a chance at being forgiven for lying to him, but there was no way that Heiji would _ever_ forgive him if he allowed something to happen to Kazuha.

For that matter, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself either.

There really was only one place that he could think of that Heiji might go in his current condition- no, rather, it was _because_ of his condition that it was the only place he would go. With the information about both the so-called accident and the ruins readily available on the Internet, it wouldn't be that hard to find the place- it had been how he and Ai had discovered it's location to begin with, after all.

If those strange dreams that Heiji had been seeing recently really were just old memories, stirred up by his current condition, then it was possible that he had gone back to confirm them. In his current state of mind, confirming the truth was probably the most important thing to him. As for what he planned to do after that, he didn't know. He supposed it ultimately depended on just how much returning to that place would effect him.

That lab, that place where he had been created. No, that wasn't quite right. He shouldn't put it that way, in that manner, that seemed to distance him from everyone else around him. Such words brought with them a sense of isolation that he couldn't help but wonder if Heiji was feeling right now- and he refused to contribute to that. He hadn't gone back to the place he had been created- he had gone back to the place that he had been _born_. It might not have been through conventional methods, but that didn't matter.

Important semantics aside, there was another problem- that place was also the perfect place to abduct him. If the Organization really _was_ aware of his existence, and had an interest in him, then if they were to learn that he had vanished from the hospital, they probably would have been able to draw to the same conclusion that he had. He knew for certain that Amuro, at least, probably would be able to- and while Heiji stood a chance at fighting back in his prime condition, just getting there was probably going to take all of his energy.

If someone really came after him, he wouldn't stand a chance. He couldn't let something like that happen.

His best friend might have come into the world as a lab rat, but he didn't want that to be the way he would leave it. He deserved more- so much more than that. But if the Organization really were still interested in Kawaguchi Souma's research after all this time, there was no telling what they would do if they became aware that an important piece of it was still alive.

To them, he wouldn't be Hattori Heiji, the high school detective of the west, and a human being- he would just be a flawed prototype, an experimental sample meant to be analyzed and then thrown away when he was no longer useful. That was the way they did things.

"So? Where is he, Kudo-kun?" Ai asked, her eyes narrowing. Judging from the way that he was deeply lost in thought, something must have happened indeed. Something important- something that put such a worried expression on his face. "I can contact the Professor right away, and have him drive us there."

"It's a place we've both been to, and recently at that." Conan said finally, taking in and letting out a deep breath, casting her a rather forlorn smile, watching as the meaning of his words sunk into her. "His birthplace."

* * *

This was, indisputably, a bad idea.

He wasn't sure if it was to his credit or not that he had realized it was one as soon as he had had it- considering that he had gone along with it in the end anyways. He'd been aware that his body's condition was nowhere near back to normal, but he hadn't fully realized just how _bad_ it was until simply walking down the steps of the hospital at such a haltingly slow pace that was almost certain someone would have stopped him along the way, had him completely out of breath.

He guessed kendo practice was completely out of the question then. On the off chance that he could ever return to school, he would probably have to quit the club.

Even though had known from the very start that it was a terrible idea, there was no way that he couldn't follow through with it. He needed to see it for himself- the place that had been haunting his dreams lately, a place he felt like he should have no reason to know, yet knew. This place that he already knew that he was irrevocably linked to, no matter how much he still wanted to deny it- to deny the truth.

And what a truth it was. He never would have thought that the very thing that was a detective's strongest ally would one day turn against him like this, becoming his worst foe.

It was only after he turned away the cab driver, fighting to keep a broad grin on his face in spite of the fact that he was forcing himself to breathe at a steady rate, that he realized that he didn't have a cellphone anymore to call a ride back with. It didn't really matter anyways- those looking for him wouldn't be far behind. If he had found this place, so too had Kudo- and of course, his father would have _ample_ cause to know where it was.

Even in the bright afternoon sun, it loomed over him like a haunted ruin. Placing a hand over his heart, wondering if the way it was racing was just because he had been exerting himself- and he really couldn't get used to the idea that just catching a train now qualified as _exerting himself_ \- or if it was simply because of the complex network of emotions that he was struggling to navigate.

Tugging his cap down low over his brow, he couldn't help but dwell on the fact that the case he was now investigating was that of his _own_ \- his own origins, nonetheless. It was something he had never once thought to question, even though he'd had lingering suspicions about being adopted for some time now. He had always just assumed his lack of early childhood memories was relatively _normal_. There had never been anything in his life to cause him to question that, nor to question the fact that the first clear memory he had seemed to come from a time when he had already been enrolled in first grade.

There was an irony there, he thought, gazing up at the ruined building, unable to bring himself to go inside just yet. He was a detective, someone who devoted himself to seeking justice and truth, in accordance with the law- but his very existence itself was probably a crime. The media would have a field day if they knew about it- which was probably exactly the reason why all news reports about the accident that had occurred here indicated that there were no survivors.

Hand straying up to touch the charm that was still wrapped around his wrist, Heiji drew in as much of a breath as he could. Taking a halting step forward, grimacing at how _difficult_ that was now, he crossed what he knew was a threshold that marked the point of no return. From here on out, he wouldn't be able to live in ignorance any longer, the very ignorance that his father had sought to protect all these years.

When he stopped being angry at him for a second, it was touching, really. There was no way that old man didn't know the truth- the whole truth, right from the very start. And yet even knowing that, even knowing what he was, he had brought him into his family anyways, going so far to call him his son. Sure, they didn't always get along, but just from the fact that he had embraced something that was as abnormal as it seemed he was, went a long way to improve his impression of him.

But it was no wonder he couldn't ever live up to the expectations that his father had for him- or the expectations that he had always assumed that the man had for him. Considering the rate at which he was falling apart now, held together only by some kind of special serum, he had probably never been meant to be anything more than a prototype. A trail run, a lab rat, a test drive for the real thing.

A flawed prototype that had gotten way ahead of himself, and started to think that he could match up to normal humans. What a joke that was.

Under better circumstances, maybe he would be handling the truth better- but considering the fact that the truth was _literally killing him_ , he supposed he was actually doing pretty well for himself, all things considered.

"Great. _More_ stairs." Resting a hand on what he assumed was probably once some kind of reception desk, Heiji cast a rather dry look towards the staircase that loomed before him. Even just half a month ago, he wouldn't have even blinked at it, but as he was now, they threatened to nearly be an insurmountable obstacle. Was this the way it was seriously going to be for him, for the rest of his life? However long that was now- he was starting to understand why that little Neechan's prognosis for him had been so bleak.

He had been made with technology and theories that were now fifteen years out of date- it was no wonder his body had finally reached it's limit. Only fifteen years- honestly, what a shitty run that would be.

Still, he'd come this far by virtue of pure stubbornness alone, one more set of stairs _probably_ wasn't going to kill him. Suffice to say, he was starting to understand the importance of escalators now.

Even so, up he went. In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but think that Kazuha would hate a place like this- and he couldn't blame her. It certainly looked like it might be haunted- and even if it wasn't, since ghosts, of course, did not actually exist, he couldn't help but see ghosts of his own, cast over the surroundings like a long faded photograph. As he came to the top of the stairs, he paused, hearing an echo of alarm bells ringing in his ears that he was certain no longer worked.

When he entered into _that room_ , he had to fight back to the urge to vomit, a feeling which had nothing to do with his physical state. Gripping the side of the entrance tight, for a moment, he was overcome with the sound of screams and the smell of smoke, a feeling of overwhelming chaos and panic, so much so that it nearly threatened to consume him. He didn't need the obvious evidence left behind to know that this was the place where that deadly accident had happened- he already knew that much in his bones.

He couldn't shake the feeling that it might not have been an accident after all.

Taking a moment longer to steady himself once more, Heiji took another step into the room, half wishing he had the forethought to bring a flashlight. There was sunlight seeping in through the gaping hole in the wall, but not much, leaving the room somewhat dark. Not that he would have been able to get anything like that on such short notice in the first place- he would just have to make do with what he _could_ see.

"This is the place, huh." Although there was no one here with him, he couldn't help but talk to himself- if only to take the edge off of his surroundings. Rubbing the back of his neck, Heiji's lips twisted into a tight frown, taking in the ruined remains of the lab. It was hard to tell what might have gone on in here unless one already knew, but even though it was faint, as his gaze traced the room, he began to see shadows of what it once was. It was a scenery that he had probably seen any number of times before, and though time and fire alike had worked to destroy it, he could still make out echoes of the place, of what it might have been like when everything was in proper working order.

It was that instinct that lead him towards one of the pedestal-like objects that lined the room, a place where he came to a stop. He half wished he had something to steady his feet with, because just standing upright was taking all of his effort. How pathetic- he was almost grateful that no one was with him here to see him in this sorry state. To go from the peak of perfect health to _this_ \- he might just have to come to terms with the notion that nothing would ever be like it was before.

He didn't know if the knowledge as to why this was happening was helping with that any. If anything, it just made him feel like there was no way out of this situation- that Haibara girl was good, but she wasn't a miracle worker. It wasn't as if she could rewrite his DNA, to fix whatever must have been fundamentally broken inside of him now. Nor could she turn back time, preventing his body from starting to break down in the first place.

It wasn't like he wasn't grateful for what she had done for him already. It wasn't as if he had any sudden desire to die- that was something that hadn't changed. He wanted to _live_ \- as best as he could, whatever that would mean for him from now on. Even if that meant he couldn't do half of the things he used to be able to, even if he knew that it wouldn't be easy for him to really accept, even if he felt that it might make him bitter- he didn't want to die. Of course he didn't!

Still, it would be nice if he could manage to walk up a flight of stairs without running out of breath.

Crouching down in front of the pedestal, Heiji placed a hand on it's surface, feeling cold metal underneath his hand, his eyes narrowing in thought. Turning his head to look behind him, his brows furrowed together, digging through the images from his dreams, what he was coming to understand more and more were actually just his own largely forgotten memories. Rising to his feet slowly, so that he didn't lose his balance, he turned all the way around, tucking his hands into his pockets, deeply lost in thought.

Here. Right here.

The sound that came out of him was probably some kind of laugh, dry and bitter, as he once more scanned his surroundings, taking everything in. Deep down, he had probably been hoping that by coming here, he would realize that what he was thinking couldn't possibly true, that there was no way that he could be some kind of _goddamn clone_ , but it seemed as if he really weren't that lucky.

" _Shit!_ " The swear escaped him with a surge of anger, one that sent him reeling, both mentally and physically, as he stumbled on his feet, sinking down to the floor. His back against the cold metal of the ruined pedestal behind him, Heiji shut his eyes, knowing that even if he did, he wouldn't be able to shut out the scenery around him.

He was really, _really_ grateful that nobody else was around right now. He didn't even know what kind of face he was making right now, but he wasn't the type who was any good at showing his weakness to other people. Leaning his head back, opening his eyes to gaze up at the ceiling, he forced himself to draw in a long breath, though it was more difficult than he would ever like to admit. Thinking back on it, he probably should have at least waited for that Haibara girl to give him that shot- but if he had waited around, there was a chance that he might have to face Kudo again.

He had no idea how he would be able to face him again. What would he even say to him? What did he even think of him now? Was the reason that he had been acting so strangely around him since he had woken up from his coma been because he knew the truth about him, or was it just because he was trying to keep said truth from him? _Both_?

Why hadn't he told him anything? He'd promised that he would, at some point. Was everyone just planning on keeping him in the dark for the rest of his life? _Why_? Out of some form of kindness? Did he really seem so weak that he wouldn't be able to come to terms with the truth? Or did they think he wouldn't believe them?

Because honestly, he would very much _love_ not to believe any of this- but he had no choice but to accept it as the truth. Even if that truth came with a sense of isolation that he didn't quite think he would ever be able to explain to anyone else, even if he hated it, hated what it meant, even if he didn't actually want to know it after all, it was a truth that he couldn't deny.

A clone. Something straight of science fiction. He hadn't come into this world because anyone wanted _him_ here- probably the only thing anyone ever wanted from him was the data that he would give them. He hadn't even been the only one that had been made, judging from both his memories, and the faint traces of evidence left behind in the room. Just one of many, something that was probably never meant to develop anything close to individuality, anything remotely similar to awareness. Just an experimental sample, a piece of living, breathing data, meant to be analyzed and observed- a means to an end, not a goal.

And then what? If that accident hadn't happened, what would have happened to him? Would he have just been thrown away, scrapped without a second thought? Did he matter at all to the people who had created him?

For a brief, sinking moment, the only thing he could think of was that Kazuha deserved _so much better_ than something like him. Something better than some _goddamn human lab rat_ , since that was basically all that he amounted to. If he had known the truth, he never would have dreamed of confessing to her.

What an idiot he'd been, all this time.

No. This was no good. He couldn't let himself continue to think this way. It wasn't like him at all.

He had chided people earlier for being more depressed about his lingering death sentence than even _he_ was, so why was he acting like this now? There were people who knew the truth about him, and yet even so, they were fighting hard to save his life now. They wanted him to remain in the world, just as he was. It was true that he might have come into the world as nothing more than a lab rat, but that didn't mean that had to hold true even now. Even if it was just by chance, he'd been allowed the chance to become something _more_ than that- and he wasn't going to let anyone take that away from him, himself included.

He was _Hattori Heiji_. He wasn't just some nameless lab rat.

Taking in and letting out a deep breath as best as he could manage, Heiji slowly rose to his feet once more, using the pedestal as a prop to push himself up with. He was certain that it wouldn't be long now before either Kudo or his father ended up tracking him to this place- he had probably better just go wait for them, and accept whatever kind of lecture they would have ready for him when he came back.

At least, that was the plan.

"Eh?"

Stumbling on his feet, Heiji reached out, barely able to grab the edge of what probably used to be some kind of chair. Blinking a little, trying to steady his vision, which had begun to dance in front of him again, he was overcome by a strange feeling- a sensation of being here and not here, something that he felt that he knew from somewhere else. As he struggled to take in another breath, it slowly sunk into him from where he had come to know it.

The last thought that went through his head, before inky blackness claimed him once again, was that the faint sound of approaching footsteps didn't sound like they belonged to anyone he knew.

"Well, well. It would seem that you remembered something after all, Hattori-kun."

* * *

"Are you sure this is the place, Shinichi?"

It wasn't as if he couldn't understand the skepticism in the Professor's voice. To an outsider, the building looked to be nothing more than a smoldering ruin. Although he knew from Ai that he had a good idea about what was going on- she lived with him, it would have been impossible to keep from him, after all- he had no cause to know anything about this place. Honestly, it was part of why he wanted to try contacting Subaru again, but it appeared that he wasn't available when he called.

What was he even up to lately? He was certain that he was fine, otherwise he probably would have gotten a call from Jodie, but he didn't like being out of contact with him like this. If it meant that they had some kind of lead, that would be for the best- because they could really use one of those right about now.

"Yes, this is it. Thanks, Professor. Keep the engine running while we're gone. We'll need to get Hattori back to the hospital as soon as possible, if he's really here." Conan told him, before glancing over towards Ai, watching as she slid out of the car without a word. She was carrying a small bag with her, and inside, he knew was the shot that Heiji would need.

It wasn't as if he couldn't understand Heiji's motives for coming here, but he could have at least waited until he had gotten it. He thought he had done well to impress the importance of them on him, but maybe he was wrong. Or perhaps Heiji's need to confirm what he suspected outweighed anything resembling common sense- it was impossible to say.

There was almost no doubt that he was here though. They had spoken with a taxi driver who had driven a young man matching Heiji's description out here. He had stuck out in the man's memory, though not for the usual reasons- he had cited the fact that he had been hesitant to leave him there, when it almost seemed as if he could collapse on his feet at any moment. It was only after he had assured him that someone would be coming to get him from here that he had finally left.

In others, Heiji had already assumed that they would follow him here. Honestly, what a troublesome guy. Well, given the circumstances, he would allow it- in a way, this situation was his own fault for not telling him anything when he had the chance. If he had done that, he would have found out the truth from a friend- rather than having hints of it dropped to him by a stranger, and a rather suspicious one at that.

He could only just hope that they had made it here in time. If they hadn't, and if the Organization had discovered that he had left the hospital, it wouldn't be that hard for them to figure out where he might be headed himself. Well, of course, that was still _if_ the Organization was actually interested in him- there was still a chance that Amuro might have been asking questions for the sake of the Public Security Bureau.

Or for Vermouth, whose motives were a mystery even to him.

"We might need your help to get him back in the car, so make sure to listen for your phone, Professor." Ai noted, before she shut the door behind her. Missing one shot would cause Heiji's condition to worsen again- but it wouldn't kill him. What was more likely to put him in danger was all the moving around that he had been doing- and she had even advised him not to do things like this!

He really was hotblooded, that one.

And she still got the feeling that there was something important that Conan hadn't told her yet. There was that glint in his eyes, the glint of something eating away at him, of worry. The cold chill that traced her spine gave her an idea as to what it might be, and even though it was more than enough to make her want to hide, she knew that she couldn't. She might not hold the exact qualifications to call herself one, but for the time being, she was a doctor, and Heiji was her patient- and she couldn't just abandon him, regardless of the circumstances.

Besides, if he thought there was any danger here for her, he wouldn't have brought her here with him in the first place. She had to have faith that he wasn't so concerned about Heiji that he hadn't forgotten something as important as that.

"Hattori!" Calling out his friend's name as soon as he entered the ruined lab, Conan switched on his wristwatch flashlight. The sun was just starting to set overhead, and he knew the faster that they could get Heiji back to the hospital, the better it would be. "Oi, Hattori! Are you here?"

"He's probably upstairs." Ai noted, shining her own wristwatch flashlight in that direction. "There's a chance he might have already passed out, judging from what the taxi driver told us. He's probably used up quite a bit of strength just getting here."

"Honestly, that idiot." Muttering underneath his breath, Conan made his way up towards the stairs. "Making us go through all of this trouble. If he wanted to come here, he could have just asked us to take him here later when he was feeling up to it."

Well, it wasn't as if he couldn't understand his reasons, nor could he really blame him. He still wasn't quite sure what he would say to Heiji when he saw him. He could only hope that he had been able to sort out his feelings during this time.

"You say that, but I know it's only just because you're worried about him." Ai noted, glancing over towards him, a hint of a smile crossing her face. In times like these, he could be rather easy to read. "What a touching friendship. It's almost enough to make me cry."

"Of course I am." Conan told her, narrowing his eyes. Of course he was worried about him- he never should have left him alone, even if he had asked him to. "Well, as long as we bring him back to the hospital and give him his shot, his life shouldn't be in any danger."

"That's true. His condition isn't that dangerous yet." Ai said simply. "That said, I wouldn't want him to go without the serum for more than a week. Even that is something of a generous estimate, though. It's not just his body we have to worry about deteriorating, his mind is at risk as well. Those deductive abilities of his that he's so proud of might disappear before he knows it."

"Yeah. If something like that happens..." Conan shook his head, not even wanting to dwell on it. "Hattori might be able to learn to live with his body's condition being bad, but that's probably only so long as he's still able to put his mind to work."

"Well, if he's been able to figure out this much on his own, he's probably still fine in that regard." Ai said simply, planting her foot on the top stair, shining her flashlight in the direction of the burnt out lab. "Well, I doubt something like that would happen over the span of a few hours though."

"Well, you're the expert there, not me." When it came to actually saving Heiji's life, in a way, Ai was almost more vital than he was he was. He might not enjoy the fact that he didn't have all the answers this time, but he was willing to admit that much. "Hattori! I know you're here, so answer me already!"

The lack of response sent a chill up his spine.

"He might have collapsed somewhere." Ai noted, glancing over towards him. "Let's split up and look around the lab for him. If he's not here, then he's probably in one of the room downstairs."

"Right." Giving her a firm nod of his head, trying to fight back the feeling of dread that was rising in him, Conan shone his flashlight around the ruined lab, crossing into it. He was quickly drawn towards the first of the pedestals, shining his flashlight down towards it. There were hand prints in the dust on it that hadn't been there when they had visited before- ones that looked as if they would be just the right size to be Heiji's.

He had _definitely_ been here- the only question was where exactly he was _now_.

"Hattori!" Calling out his name again, Conan felt his heart start to pound in his chest. Maybe his father had arrived here before he had, and had already taken him back? No, if that was the case, he would have gotten a call about it from someone. "Oi, Hattori! If you're here, respond to me! I know you're mad, but-!"

"Kudo-kun."

There was something in her sharp tone that quickly made him shut his mouth, slowly turning to face her. Making out her figure crouched down on the ground, her flashlight shining on something, he felt a knot twist in his gut, a creeping feeling that his worst fears might have been realized.

"This is Hattori-kun's, isn't it?"

As she picked up an object that he had become rather familiar with over the past half year, an object that he could never forget, considering the fact that he owed his life to it, Conan felt the cold feeling of dread inside of him rise up like a crashing wave, threatening to consume him. There was no reason that Heiji would ever leave something like that behind, no reason that he could think of that he would have even taken it off his wrist, where Kazuha had carefully wrapped it around on that first, dreadful evening.

Wordlessly making his way towards her, Conan carefully took the charm from her. Wrapped in purple cloth, with a pattern of pink flowers on it, there was probably any number of charms in the world that looked like it. It was possible that it belonged to someone else, it was possible that it could just be a coincidence, that someone with a similar charm had come here, and had carelessly dropped it. Heiji was probably in one of the rooms downstairs, having exhausted his energy and fallen asleep, and was just waiting for someone to come and pick him up.

That was must have been the reason that he wouldn't respond to him, no matter how much he called out to him. Or perhaps he really was still mad, and was ignoring him, wanting to be as much of a thorn in his side as he possibly could. That must be the reason, that must be it. Besides, if this really were Heiji's charm, then inside there would have to be...

For such a small piece of metal, it made quite the sound as it tumbled out of the charm. He hadn't even realized that he had opened it up, until he heard it clatter on the floor. For a moment, he felt as if he had been frozen in time, before he slowly turned his gaze downwards, gaze fixing on the one thing he really didn't want to see right now.

A single link of a handcuff chain.


	13. Experimental Sample

**AN** : I'm back, with the next chapter! And what fitting content for a chapter with such an unlucky number, in that things start going very wrong, indeed. I'll be honest though, I've been feeling in a bit of a rut writing-wise lately, not really helped by the fact that I recently released a chapter two days ago to the sound of zero reviews. A different story than this one, but nevertheless, definitely not encouraging stuff all around, ahaha.

That said, I do thank you for reading! Until next time!

* * *

 **Collapse**

 **Chapter Thirteen**

 **Experimental Sample**

* * *

"I see you woke up."

He didn't need to recognize the feeling of cold steel around one of his wrists to know that he wasn't back at the hospital, nor that the one who had found him there hadn't been Kudo, or even his father. Far from it, rather.

If there was any small mercy, it was that his breathing seemed a bit better than it had been before- though still not as good as he would have liked. His vision, at least, had cleared up, no longer blurry as it had been right before he had passed out. However forced his rest had been, it had at the very least, done him some good.

He was going to need it.

There had been no foul play involved in his collapse, he recognized that much. He had pushed himself too hard, and when that combined with the weight of what it was that he had learned... it was no wonder that he had passed out. The ones who were doubtlessly behind his confinement here- wherever here was, had simply taken advantage of that. Still, sick or not, he had no intention of showing weakness to them.

That said, this was still a bad situation- he didn't have the strength to stand right now, much less run away from here. The person who had chained him here obviously knew it as well, otherwise they would have used more than just one handcuff. That was basically _asking_ him to just work his way out of it, and run away. But if they expected him to play the part of the meek little captive, they had another thing coming.

"Nah, I just sleep with my eyes open sometimes." Heiji quipped, a hint of a grin crossing his face. He recognized this lady's face right away- though he had never met her before, she had good reason to stick out in his mind. Kudo had never given him the full details in regards as to what Chris Vineyard's connections were to that shady Organization of his, but he knew enough to know that she was a member of it.

The fact that she was here, in front of him, almost _definitely_ wasn't a good sign. Out of the corner of his eye, he could make out the young man who had paid his hospital room a visit earlier- no wonder he had never heard anything about him from Kudo before. At some point, that guy had gotten awfully close mouthed when it came to matters relating to _them_ \- at least to him, he had.

Suddenly, the way that he had snapped at him, this Amuro Tooru, started to make more sense. It wasn't only because he was saying things that Kudo obviously would have preferred to have kept a secret, but because his presence there signaled something much bigger.

Seriously though- if it was going to end up this way, he wished that Kudo had trusted him more when it came to that Organization he was chasing. There wasn't a whole lot he could do about it at the moment, given his condition, but at the very least, he'd be armed with information.

His body's condition might not be any good right now, but at least his mind was still sharp. He would figure a way out of this situation, one way or another- he wasn't known as the great high school detective of the west for nothing. If Kudo could give these guys the runaround on the regular, then so could he, damnit.

It kind of figured that a shady criminal organization who had a drug in their possession that could somehow turn people back into children would be interested in human cloning- even if that _wasn't_ the drug's intended purpose. And it really _was_ just his damn luck that he apparently had turned out to be just that- if he had even the faintest of lingering doubts, the fact that he was here now pretty much erased them.

That said, he would have to make sure they didn't realize he already knew about them. From what little he _did_ understand about them, that could very well be a mistake. There was a chance that Chris already knew, but if Amuro didn't, he sure as heck wasn't inclined to let him know.

"And is responding to people in your sleep a part of that?" At the mildly amused look that crossed his face, the famous American actress merely quirked a brow. "You're a rather interesting boy, Hattori Heiji."

"Thanks. I'm flattered." Casting his gaze towards the young man lingering in the background, he merely quirked a brow in his direction. "Amuro Tooru, ya said? Seems like ya know some pretty famous people, if this lady here is who I think she is. Don't know about her hobby of kidnappin' people though, don't think the cops are gonna be real hot on that."

"I wouldn't say it's her hobby, not exactly." Amuro noted, his expression unchanging, though Heiji didn't miss the trace of amusement in his voice. "Our interests in you are purely business, I'm afraid."

"Well open a window, cause yer business reeks." Heiji noted. It wasn't all that easy for him to prop himself up in a sitting position while not letting the effort it took show on his face, but he managed somehow. That took about all the strength he had in him right now, so it would seem that escaping was something he would have to put on hold for the moment.

Face to face with two of the boogeyman that haunted Kudo's nightmares, and he couldn't even so much as give them one punch for their troubles.

Figures.

"So? What do the two of ya want with me?" Deciding to cut straight to the point, Heiji narrowed his eyes. "If yer thinkin' of askin' my old man fer ransom fer me, lemme tell ya know that's a _real_ bad idea."

"We have no interest in your father. At the very least, not _that_ one." With a trace of a smile on her lips, Vermouth carefully studied the young man before her. She had taken note of Hattori Heiji long before this, back at that play, but hadn't thought much of him at the time. He had shown up there in a rather clumsy disguise, attempting to pass himself off as Kudo Shinichi- and had failed rather splendidly at it, too.

It amusing, and meant that he likely knew about Edogawa Conan's connection to his fellow high school detective, but other than that, she hadn't thought much of him. Her main goal at the time had been to discover the location of Sherry, and to establish if Edogawa Conan and Kudo Shinichi were truly one and the same. If there was a young man there with a slightly familiar face, then it had been at the forefront of her thoughts.

It wasn't until that night of the Halloween party, when she had heard that he had dressed up as Kudo Shinichi again, this time with far more success, that she began to realize the fact that his face seemed familiar to her actually _meant_ something. It had been years, after all, since she last thought of the man he shared it with- and she had long since thought he was dead, and had taken all of his research with him. She had come across them before- men who would rather end their own lives rather than join them.

It would appear that she had been wrong, on both counts.

Still, even though she realized that he was a clone, they really were spitting images of each other. It was only natural, since they were exactly the same, down to the genetic level. If there was one difference between the two, it was their personalities. In that regard, the two of them were as different as night and day.

If she had to choose between the two, she had to say that she _much_ preferred the clone over the original.

"I don't suppose you're going to try and claim that you remember nothing now, are you, Hattori-kun?" From the back, Amuro spoke up, locking eyes with him. "Considering where I found you passed out, that would be a rather hard sell. Judging from the information that I gathered about you, you're not a very good liar."

"Any chance yer gonna tell me who it was that told ya that about me, so I can tell 'em ta _keep their dang mouths shut_ the next time a shady lookin' guy comes round askin' questions about me?" Heiji asked, a look of mild irritation crossing his face. He didn't like the idea of some stranger creeping around in regards to his personal life. "I don't know who ya think yer foolin' with that plastic smile of yers, but it sure ain't me. I might be a clone, but at least I can take comfort in the fact that I'm more real than someone like _ya_."

Not even a twitch. Bastard was good.

If anything, he'd stabbed _himself_ more with those words, with the honest admission that he was a clone, rather than the one they were directed at. He might have decided that the only thing he could do was accept it, but that didn't necessarily make it _easy_. It was easy to say that he was Hattori Heiji, not just some cheap copy of someone else. That whoever this Kawaguchi Souma person was, he was probably _way_ better than someone like him.

Easy to say, harder to actually embrace. He'd get there, though. If there were people who accepted him for what he was, flawed prototype and all, then he sure as hell could learn to accept it himself.

Provided he _lived_ , of course. That was kind of the big issue at the moment.

"Now, now, there's no need for the two of you to fight." Vermouth said simply, her lips curling into a smile. "I don't suppose you remember anything from that night, do you?"

"Lots of fire an' lots of screamin'." Heiji answered honestly, shrugging his shoulders. "Aside from that, not much else. Well, that said, even if I did, I wouldn't tell the two of ya anythin' about it. I get the strangest feelin' that ya wouldn't put the information ta good use. _Might_ have somethin' ta do with the fact that ya kidnapped me."

"I suspected that you would say that much." Vermouth noted, rising to her feet. "But I must admit, Hattori-kun, I'm surprised. I'm sure you've already realized what being confined here probably means for your well being, and yet you don't seem worried at all."

Doubtlessly he was already trying to figure out a way to escape. Someone that boy regarded as an equal probably wasn't someone that she should entirely take lightly. His body certainly was in poor condition, but it appeared that his greatest weapon- his mind- was still in proper working order.

Well, even if he did manage to escape, he wouldn't be able to get far. He was an important piece for them at the moment, and they had taken measures to ensure that even if he managed to get away from here, they would still be able to track him down with ease. It wouldn't be something that he would be able to do much of anything about even if he noticed it, no matter how clever he was.

"If ya wanted me dead, I would be probably already be dead." Heiji noted with a shrug. "Seein' as I'm not, an' seein' as I'm not confined ta a lab somewhere, bein' used as a human lab rat, I figure ya wanna keep me alive, at the very least, fer now."

"Besides," leveling his gaze with Vermouth, a broad grin crossed his face, "...I've got some pretty reliable friends out there, who are probably lookin' fer me right now."

"That you do." Vermouth admitted. "I know them quite well, those friends of yours."

"I figured ya did." Any further taunts he wanted to make her forced back, as he bit his lip to contain a coughing fit that he felt welling up inside of him. Once under control, he let out a breath, cracking one eye open to carefully study the woman in front of him. "So? Ya haven't told me what it is that ya really want me here fer. Since yer not usin' me as a lab rat, ya must have some other reason why ya need me here."

"I believe I already told you." Vermouth said. She had to admit, she was mildly impressed- even though his body was in shambles, he still had this much fire left in him. As she thought, that boy had some rather interesting friends. "I'm interested in the man whose face you share. Kawaguchi Souma."

"Can't help ya there. Don't know a damn thing about him." Heiji told her, shrugging his shoulders. "I guess I owe him fer creatin' me in the first place, but well," letting out a snort, he shook his head, "...obviously not that much, considering the right lousy job he did."

"Dealing with your issues with humor, I see." Vermouth noted. "It doesn't really matter if you know where he is or not, Hattori-kun. All that matters is that we have you in our hands. As for locating him," Casting a glance back towards Amuro, there was something in her smile that sent a chill down Heiji's spine. "...my companion here has taken some measures that will ensure he'll come to us."

"Ya say that like that's somehow not good news fer me." Heiji pointed out. Given how hard Kudo had been looking for the guy, it would help a lot of he would come here himself. As the person who made him, he was likely the only person out there who would know how to fix him as well, if such a thing were actually possible.

Still, even as he said that, he got the feeling that it wasn't that simple. There were still big pieces of the puzzle that he was missing, pieces that he knew that Kudo likely had. It was true that he couldn't remember much about that night, or really anything that much from the early days, but from what very little he _did_ remember, he didn't get the impression that this Kawaguchi Souma was a good person.

Of course he wasn't. A man who had been expelled from the scientific world because of his interest in creating human clones? A man who had opened up a secret lab to research that very same thing? A man whose research had caught the interest of a criminal Organization that could make even Kudo quake in his boots? There was no way. There was no way that someone like that was a good person.

He had that on him, at the very least.

Besides, as much as the article that he had read had described the explosion and subsequent fire as an accident, he knew that probably wasn't the case. If the Organization hadn't been behind it, then there was only one person left who could have done it- and that was the man who had built the lab in the first place.

Honestly, the very thought of sharing everything with someone like that was enough to give him the shivers. Would he have ended up that way himself, if his parents hadn't raised him the way that they had? Maybe all this time, his father had been taking measures to ensure that he wouldn't turn out to be that sort of person.

He owed that old man of his more than he could have ever imagined.

"No." Vermouth said simply, opening her eyes. "It's the worst possible news for you, Hattori-kun."

She had been there, in that lab, all those years ago. Recruiting Kawaguchi Souma was a task that had fallen on her. He was just as brilliant as he was rumored to be- but there was nothing human within his heart. In the clones that he was created, that much was reflected back, blank, dull-eyed children who had been little more than living dolls.

All save for one.

She never would have imagined that one would one day show up before her again, like this. At the time, she truly had believed that they all had perished- she never would have imagined that the Osakan police were hiding one. And to think that clone had managed to grow up into someone that had become so important to her Silver Bullet- fate truly did work in strange ways.

Strange, and cruel.

In regards to whether Hattori Heiji lived or died- she didn't really care that much. However, she knew full well that his death would have a direct impact on the one that she _did_ care about- one that might blunt his effectiveness as her Silver Bullet of choice. In that regard, she couldn't have that.

But she knew. She already knew- that to Kawaguchi Souma, the life of the one that he had created didn't matter to him at all. In the first place, those clones had been nothing more than prototypes, experimental samples meant to be discarded and thrown away once they had ceased to be useful. He said that much in no uncertain terms.

If he really was allowed to obtain him, it would be a death sentence for him. If he managed to escape from the Organization's grasp once more, or if his terms for agreeing to join them this time around involved obtaining possession of what he would naturally assume was his to begin with, then it was over for the one known as the high school detective of the west.

That was, of course, unless her Silver Bullet managed to find him before that.

* * *

They had taken him.

As he gripped the piece of handcuff chain so tightly that it began to left an imprint in his hand, he knew that much was true already. He was too slow, and they had taken him. Barely listening to Ai's voice as he dashed out of the ruins of the lab, making his way outside, he frantically looked around, trying to find some kind of trace, some kind of clue. As his heart pounded loudly in his chest, he switched on his wristwatch flashlight, scanning the ground for any traces of what he was looking for.

Tire tracks. Ones that were relatively fresh.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could spot Agasa taking notice of him, and making his way out of the car, questions on his lips. For the moment, he put such things aside, fixing his full attention on one thing- confirmation.

If something happened to Heiji because of this, then mole or not, he would never forgive Amuro. Not for as long as he lived. It might have been Heiji's decision to come here, but it was a decision that he now realized that he had likely been manipulated into making. After saying those provoking things to him, there was no way that someone like Heiji wouldn't start looking for answers, and that was what Amuro had counted on. He had probably been waiting here the whole time, waiting for Heiji to show up.

In his current state, there was no way for his friend to fight back. _Damnit_ \- why hadn't he gotten here sooner!?

The Organization. Amuro had been investigating the matter for the Organization. There was no doubt about that now. Were he searching for Kawaguchi for the Public Security Bureau, there would have been no need for such tactics. It would have been just fine to leave Heiji where he was, in the hospital. There was no need to abduct him, and there was no way that his colleagues would agree to effectively kidnapping the son of Osaka's chief of police.

If he didn't miss his guess, it was probably on Vermouth's orders. There were only two Organization members that had any cause to know Heiji's face before this- Vodka, and Vermouth. Between the two of them, there was probably only one who had been involved with the Organization fifteen years ago, when they had tried and failed to recruit Kawaguchi- and that was Vermouth.

Finally spotting what he was looking for, Conan hurriedly made his way over towards them, crouching down in front of them. Placing a hand over the tracks, he narrowed his eyes, shining his flashlight in the direction they had gone in. They weren't tracks that matched Amuro's usual car, but it was possible that he had taken the train here, and then had gotten a rental.

If that was the case, then the odds that Heiji was currently still somewhere within Osaka prefecture were high. And if what he suspected was true, then all the more so. If they wanted to use him as bait for the one they _truly_ wanted, then it would make the most sense to stay in the place where Heiji was the most well known.

He likely wasn't in Osaka city itself- his face was too well known there, and he knew the area too well. If he managed to slip away from them, they would have trouble finding him again, and it would have been a simple matter for him to contact his father. Once he was back in Hattori Heizo's custody, he would become that much harder to kidnap. They wouldn't have taken a gamble like that.

Most likely, he was somewhere in the prefecture, but some distance away from the city. Getting to his feet, Conan followed the tire tracks until they lead to the road, trying to determine which way they had gone.

Left. They had gone left. Switching off his wristwatch flashlight, knowing it would be impossible to track them any further, he turned back on his heels. He had to calm down- it would do him any good to panic. Heiji might be sick, but he was no distressed damsel- and at the very least, he was aware of _their_ existence, and of the connection that the American actress, Chris Vineyard, had with them.

Precisely _because_ it was likely Vermouth, he was banking on the fact that Heiji was still alive- and relatively safe- at the moment. He didn't doubt that she didn't care about Heiji one bit, but she would have known enough about him to know that he was someone that he trusted. Judging from her past behavior, that in and of itself would be enough to give her some pause- not much, but some.

Of course, if the one behind her movements right now was someone even higher up in the Organization, then there was no guarantee what would happen. Still, if they wanted to use Heiji as bait for Kawaguchi, then he would need to be alive for that- for the moment, he was going to have to put his faith in that.

Even so, they were running on limited time. What kind of medical resources did Heiji have available to him at the moment? He'd pushed himself considerably coming here- would that put him at more risk? He didn't have any answers to those questions, and they worried him just as much as any of the others that currently filled his head.

" _Kudo-kun!_ "

Nearly starting at the sound of Ai's voice, wondering when it was that she had caught up to him, Conan turned to face her. Judging from her expression, it didn't appear that this was the first time she had tried calling him, or even the second.

"Nice to see you come back to me, Kudo-kun." Ai told him shortly, folding her arms in front of her chest. "Any chance you want to tell me what's really going on here?"

The way he had raced out of there like that- she didn't like it one bit. That expression on his face was one that she knew all too well, for it was one that she sometimes mirrored on her own. She couldn't mistake it for anything else.

It was an expression that was reserved for when _they_ were involved.

"Haibara." Conan began, before stopping short, not knowing what to say. For a moment, he debated telling Ai anything further. It only lasted for a moment, however- if he was going to find Heiji, then he was going to need all the help he could get. Since she wasn't their target this time, he might even be able to get her cooperation.

"It's _them_ , isn't it?" Ai finished for him, her eyes narrowing. "That's what you haven't been telling me."

"Probably." Closing his eyes, Conan felt his fist clench around the piece of handcuff chain once more, the edge of it digging into the palm of his hand. "Earlier today, when I went to see Hattori in the hospital, I heard voices from his room, and discovered that Amuro-san was there. I tried to stop him from telling him anything, but it seems like I was too late."

"I thought so." Drawing in a long breath, Ai steadied herself. She had of course, realized that it was a possibility that they might become involved at some point- the Organization wasn't the type to simply let things go. She knew that all too well. "So in other words, they took him?"

"Most likely." Turning back to face her, Conan gave her another curt nod of his head. "They must have had quite a bit of interest in Kawaguchi-san's research to go this far. Either that, or they bear quite the grudge against him. Either way, it doesn't change the fact that Hattori is in their hands right now."

"So? What are you going to do, Kudo-kun?" Ai asked. "If this really is the work of the Organization, then we can't deal with this matter lightly. Not to mention, the longer Hattori-kun goes without his shot, the more risk there is of him relapsing into an even worse condition."

"I know that." Conan grumbled, reaching into his pocket to pull out his cellphone. "For the moment, I'll contact Jodie-san and inform her about the situation. If we want to solve this quickly, we're going to need the FBI's help."

"And? What about Hattori-kun's family? Not to mention that childhood friend of his." Ai noted. It was the latter that she was most concerned for at the moment, right after Heiji himself. "With Hattori-kun missing like this, I doubt they're just going to sit still and do nothing. If they carelessly get involved, it could lead to disaster."

"I'll think of something, don't worry." Conan told her, sparing a glance in her direction. "For the moment, since Hattori left the hospital of his own accord, that should buy us some time, but if this drags out and he doesn't turn back up, things could turn complicated. We might not be able to keep them out- at the very least, not his father."

"That's true." Ai noted, placing a hand against her chin in thought, her eyes narrowing. "If we don't get him back in three days, his situation will probably take a turn for the worse again. Given how much he exerted himself today, and factoring in any mental shock that he might be experiencing, it might be even sooner than that."

"I got it. I'll let Jodie-san know."

* * *

The next time she saw Hattori Heiji, she was going to make sure to impress on him the importance of _proper communication_.

Leaving the hospital without so much of a word, and in his condition to boot! Didn't he know how worried she had been when she had arrived at his room to find it completely vacant? For a moment, she had feared the absolute worst- at least until she had pulled a nurse aside, and had asked her about it. Granted, the notion that he had gotten up and left without saying anything to anyone wasn't much better, but considering where her thoughts had first taken her, it was a vast improvement.

According to his father, he had left on his own. She got the impression that there was something yet that he still wasn't telling her, but well- she kind of always got that impression from him. Hattori Heizo was an awfully hard man to read- in spite of the fact that she had known him since she was young, she'd never gotten any good at it. She had to wonder how it was that her father was capable of such a thing- or Heizo's own wife, for that matter.

Even Ran had gone off somewhere, saying something about being worried about Conan. They had apparently just missed him at the hospital- if she knew anything about the kid, he was probably out there right now, looking for Heiji. Perhaps with those Detective Boys friends that she had heard about before. Worrying a little kid like that... honestly, who did that guy think he was?

He wasn't answering her calls, either. His cellphone wasn't in the room when she looked, so he must have taken it with him- but apparently, he'd turned it off. He probably knew that it wouldn't be long before people started to bombard him with calls, and had done it on purpose. It provided her a little bit of comfort to know that he had it with him, so that he could call for help in the event of an emergency, but that only took the faintest edge off of her worries.

Apparently there was no medicine in the world strong enough to cure his poor impulse control. While it could have it's charms, in situations like this, it was downright frustrating.

Letting out a long sigh, Kazuha pulled out her cellphone once more, deciding to try and call him again. She already knew that he probably wouldn't pick up, but it would be worth a try. No sooner than she had, her phone dinged, letting her know that a message had just come in. For a moment, she felt her heart surge in her chest, hoping that maybe it was from Heiji, that he had finally gotten in touch with her...

...but of course it wasn't.

One of their classmates, the girl who sat behind her, Sayuri, had sent her a text message. Opening up the mail, she felt a hint of a smile cross her face, wondering what the matter was this time. It might have said there was _big trouble_ , but for Sayuri, that _usually_ just meant something was brewing on the boyfriend front.

Maybe helping her with her romance woes would take her mind off of her _own_ , for a second. She really had picked a troublesome one, hadn't she?

Well, she couldn't really say that she regretted it- falling in love with him, that was. As troublesome as he was- currently, _very much so_ \- to her, Heiji was someone who was irreplaceable. A one of a kind idiot, that she treasured from the bottom of her heart.

"A link?" Kazuha blinked, her smile quickly turning into a slight frown at the next message her classmate sent her. She recognized the URL as belonging to a news site, though beyond that, she couldn't tell what it might be. Maybe it wasn't the usual love troubles she was contacting her about after all? Had something happened in Osaka?

"If she sent me somethin' weird, I'll have ta lecture her about it later." Clicking the link, Kazuha leaned back against the wall as she waited for the website load. As she thought, it lead her to a news website, though she had to scroll down a bit before she got to the actual name of the article that she had been sent. Whatever it was, it had been published rather recently.

Granted, there had been some coverage back in Osaka in regards to Heiji's illness when it had first happened, but there was no need to send her any such articles. With a tight frown, she scrolled down, carefully scanning the article's title, her brows knitting together as she read it.

"A cover up?"

* * *

When one worked the job he had for so long, eventually, one developed certain instincts.

Which is why he knew without even picking up that Toyama Ginshiro was not calling him with good news. Nevertheless, it wasn't as if he knew what the bad news he was calling about was, so answer the phone he did.

"There's a problem, Heizo."

"A bigger problem than my missing son?" Heizo asked. Upon hearing from Kazuha that they couldn't find Heiji anywhere, and that his things were gone, he had hopped on the first flight that he could get to Tokyo. Going over the security footage was one of the first things that he had done upon arriving there, and what they had managed to establish was the fact that Heiji, for whatever reason, had left the hospital on his own accord.

Normally, that would provide him with some reassurance. But there were other factors at play here, and those factors were enough to set him on edge, much as it didn't show on his face. For the moment, he had kept them to himself, knowing that Kazuha was worried enough already- he'd only told her that Heiji had left on his own.

Now she was angry at him, nearly furious, in fact, but she was less worried than she had been, which was for the best. For leaving in his condition, his son deserved to have the anger of his childhood friend directed towards him. He was almost certain that Heiji had his reasons for it, but the fact remained that it was a terrible decision.

His gut instinct was that he _knew_.

There were two things that stood out to him right away- the first of which was the presence of an unknown young man who according to the security footage, had paid a visit to Heiji a little before the Edogawa boy showed up. Judging from what had been recorded from the hallway camera, there appeared to have been something of a conflict between the boy and the stranger- one that had resulted in the stranger leaving. There was no sound on the recording, so he wasn't able to make out what was being said, and of course, there was no security camera within the hospital rooms themselves.

The other was the fact that the nurse call button had been disabled. He didn't doubt that it was the work of the same stranger who had visited his son's room- it was obvious that he didn't want Heiji to call anyone up there.

"Bigger, by quite a bit." Ginshiro noted, his tone carrying a tension to it that Heizo had cause to know well. "But related."

"Talk." Making his way to the roof so he could get a bit of privacy, sensing that he was going to need it, Heizo narrowed his eyes.

"Around thirty minutes ago, a rather troublesome article was posted online. I sent you a link, so you can read it for yourself, Heizo. We already tried having it taken down, but it only just went right back up on a different website not only after that." Ginshiro informed him. "It's about _that case._ I don't know where it is that they got their information from, but they know things that only the people who were working on the case back then know."

"Including the fact that there was one survivor."

It was enough to stop Heizo in his tracks, for a moment, his hand hovering just on the doorknob. The fact that something like this was coming not long after Heiji had gone missing couldn't be a coincidence- this was clearly planned by someone. As for who that someone was... he didn't doubt that Heiji's unknown visitor was directly related.

Turning the doorknob and stepping out onto the roof, Heizo closed it behind him. At the moment, it was empty, which was for the best, given the rather sensitive matter that they were about to discuss. "And? How are things over there?"

"At the moment, not good." Ginshiro noted. "The news is already starting to spread. There's quite a few reporters outside headquarters right now, making a real mess of things. If we try and take the article down again, it could end rather badly for us."

"How much do they know?" Heizo asked, heading for the edge of the roof, glancing down at the front entrance of the hospital. For the moment, everything was quiet here- but he imagined that it wasn't a situation that would last much longer. It wasn't a secret that Heiji has been hospitalized here, and if word got out that he was here at the moment, then they would surely follow.

"Thankfully, there's nothing about Heiji yet, nor anything about what happened to that child." Ginshiro told him. "They don't mention the age of the child that was found in the article either. What there is, however, is a rather troublesome photo."

"Of Heiji?" Heizo asked.

"No, not of him." Ginshiro said. "It's of Kawaguchi Souma. I don't know where they managed to find it, but there's a photograph of him from when he accepted his first award, at nineteen years old."

There was a long pause there, before Ginshiro finally finished his thought, stating out loud what both men already knew- even the one who hadn't seen it yet. "They look _exactly_ alike, Heizo. With your name tied to that case, it's probably only a matter of time before people start drawing connections. Some of the younger officers who know Heiji are already starting to notice."

There was another long pause, as Heizo quickly sorted through various possibilities. They couldn't possibly afford to remain silent on the matter- the longer they did, the deeper a hole that they had dug for themselves. While the cover up had been the work of his predecessor, given that he had been the first officer to respond to the scene, and the one in charge of handling the case, he couldn't just claim that he had no knowledge of it.

Ginshiro was right- it wouldn't take that long for people to begin to notice. If allowed, they would end up drawing their _own_ conclusions as to why Osaka's own high school detective, the son of it's police chief, bore such a strong resemblance to a man who had been cast out of the scientific world because of his interest in creating clones.

If they came to the right conclusion, the results could be catastrophic.

All of this, on top of the fact that his son was currently still missing- thankfully, he was more than used to dealing with high pressure situations. Already, there was an avenue forward that was starting to form in his mind, one that would hopefully contain the media for the moment. If the reason behind the article was what he thought it was, then it might just work.

Whatever happened, he couldn't afford to let the world know that Hattori Heiji was anything other than an ordinary human. The cover up would be scandal enough- if people learned that he was a clone, then things would very quickly get out of control. Thankfully, there was one other option they could use to avoid just that- provided that the man himself didn't come back from the dead to dispute it.

Which, Heizo suspected, was the true reason behind the article.

Someone was using his son as _bait_.


	14. Parentage

**AN** : Here's chapter fourteen, hot off the presses! We're smack dab in the middle of pollen season over here now, but thankfully I don't seem to be suffering as badly from it as I did last year... but last year, I also caught a cold around the same time. The absolute worst, let me tell you. Anyways, as always, thanks for reading, and to those of you who have left reviews, a special thank you to you all as well!

Until next time!

* * *

 **Collapse**

 **Chapter Fourteen**

 **Parentage**

* * *

His first contact from Subaru in what felt like days had been nothing more than a simple link. For a moment, he almost didn't click it.

That, he realized, would have been a huge mistake. While he would have come across this information by himself in time- judging from the way it was spreading, it would have been impossible to miss after awhile, the sooner he knew about something like this, the better.

"That's quite the look on your face, Kudo-kun." Peering down at his cellphone, Ai quickly scanned the article that the link had brought him to, a look of visible shock crossing her face as she read it. "Wait a second, don't tell me this is-!?"

"Yeah." Narrowing his eyes, Conan gritted his teeth, feeling a new surge of anger wash through him. He'd be willing to bet money that the person behind this was Amuro. "It's about Hattori."

If there was any silver lining to the article, it was the fact that it mentioned neither Heiji by name, nor did it directly state that the young child who had been found at the scene of the explosion was a clone. The only thing it _did_ state about the child was the fact that his existence had been hidden by the Osakan police- but with such information in the article as Hattori Heizo's name, and a rather damning photograph of Kawaguchi Souma from when he was in his late teens, it would have been more than enough for people to begin to draw their own conclusions.

He couldn't help but linger over that photograph of Kawaguchi- there was something eerily haunting about seeing that sort of expression on what was a mirror image of his best friend's face. It was enough to send a shudder down his spine.

"But how did they-?" Ai asked, before quickly shutting her mouth, answering her own question. "It's _him_ , isn't it? That man called Bourbon."

"Most likely." Conan told her. "More than likely, they're trying to draw Kawaguchi-san out by using Hattori as bait."

He had deduced that much, but even he hadn't considered that they would use such a method. If the worst case scenario occurred, and the public learned the full truth, even if he managed to recover, the chances that Heiji would ever be able to return to a normal life would be next to nothing. If word got out that he was really a clone, a lab grown human, he doubted that Heiji would be allowed all the same freedoms that he once had.

Even if the law decided to do nothing, the media wouldn't. After going through so much already, Heiji didn't deserve to have to endure something like that. Something that bore with it the risk of bringing down everything that he had worked for, everything that he had now... he couldn't allow that to happen.

Thankfully, he knew that he wasn't the only one thinking that way. Judging from the fact that Hattori Heizo himself was slated to release a statement on the matter in around thirty minutes, he could make a few guesses as to what he would say to cover up the real truth once more. For the time being, he would just have to leave that matter up to him- it was his job to concentrate on finding Heiji.

He was running on limited time, after all.

"In other words, doesn't that mean that they've confirmed that Kawaguchi-san is still alive?" Ai asked, biting down on her nail. "If they're trying to lure him out with bait like this, then it's obvious they don't know where to find him just yet."

"Yeah." Conan said, nodding his head. "I'm worried about that too. I can't say for sure that Kawaguchi san would have Hattori's best interests in mind. Given that he's probably the responsible for the destruction of the research lab, I can't imagine that he would care that much for any clone that might have survived."

"Even one that's gained his own ego." Ai observed, narrowing his eyes. "In other words, a despicable man."

"Any deal that he might end up making with the Organization will probably involve Hattori. Even if he has no interest in keeping him alive, I wouldn't think that he would be interested in letting such an important experimental sample slip away from him." And though it churned his gut to even refer to Heiji in such a fashion, he knew that was likely all the man who had created him would think of him.

Even though Heiji was so much _more_ than that.

"Probably." Ai noted, nodding her head. "What do we do from here, Kudo-kun? We don't know where they might have taken Hattori. It's not like we can just get the Osakan police to search for him or Bourbon either, not if we don't want involve them."

"That's true." With a deep frown, Conan placed a hand to his chin in thought. If there was some way that they could convince Amuro to work with them to get Heiji back, then he would gladly leap at the chance- but he doubted that he would be able to get him to agree. In the end, double agent though he might be, Amuro was still someone that they couldn't trust- who knows what he would demand in exchange for such a tradeoff.

And Vermouth was... well, if he managed to get Heiji back, he imagined that she wouldn't chase him. After doing something this flashy, though, he didn't doubt that she had drawn attention from the rest of the Organization. Even if she let him go, he didn't imagine that the others would take so kindly.

No, wait. There _was_ one.

Contacting her was a risk, and there was a chance that she might not know anything about the current situation, especially if the ones involved were Bourbon and Vermouth... but there was someone he could contact about this matter. And in this situation, he didn't have much of a choice but to take that risk.

"Professor!" Leaning forward so that he could peer past the Professor's seat, catching the man's attention. "I need you to pull over for a second. There's a phone call I need to make."

* * *

They had left him alone after that.

Even though it was more convenient like that, he couldn't deny that it pissed him off. After all, it meant that they were totally underestimating him, weren't they? Just because he wasn't quite up to his usual standard, didn't make him so helpless that they didn't even need to monitor him. Really, it was just like they were _asking_ him to escape.

Unless, for some reason, that was the point.

He'd heard very little about what had happened afterwards on that night with Chris Vineyard from Kudo himself. He'd made out a bit from Ran, who only told him what she had heard from the FBI woman. He knew enough, however, to know that the woman was a rather curious one indeed.

Again, this would have been so much easier for him if Kudo had decided to tell him things. Now that he was in this situation, it was all that he could do to grumble about it, and to try and gather that information himself. If he got out of here, then he would be sure to chew Kudo out for it later- for that, and many other things.

He might have thought that he was protecting him by keeping his true nature a secret, but did he really seem so weak that he couldn't learn to live with it? Perhaps he had been trying to tell him all this time, but hadn't found the right way to say it- he probably hadn't imagined that the truth would come out in such a way. If he knew, he might have told him a lot earlier.

At least he had some time to think now.

From the sound, there was nobody lingering in front of the door, acting as a guard. By his rough estimate, he was in an apartment somewhere. Even from his limited vantage point, he could tell that it seemed rather rundown- either it was an abandoned building, or just a really cheap, old apartment. There was a small window above him, but it had been sealed shut, so he couldn't make out anything from it, only hearing the sound of cars passing by.

Quite a few, at that. He must have been somewhere where heavy traffic passed by- perhaps right off a major road. It was a curious choice, almost as if they were hiding him in plain sight- though if he were acting as bait, he supposed it would make some degree of sense.

"Startin' ta wish I hadn't broken my cellphone." Heiji muttered to himself, glancing over towards the handcuff that chained him to the bed. Giving it a faint tug, he grumbled as he barely even had the force to make the somewhat uneven bed- really just a mattress on a rickety frame- move.

Forcing a long sigh from his lips, Heiji lay back against the mattress, closing his eyes. Well, even if he hadn't broken his cellphone, he doubted that they would have let him keep it anyways. He wouldn't have had time to send Kudo a message either, and he doubted it would have done any good. Odds were, he had already realized that he was well and truly missing right now, and had probably already figured out who was behind it.

It was finding out _where_ he was that was the question.

If he had to be honest, he didn't have faith that he would be able to completely get away on his own. But if he could manage to get out from here, and could manage to contact him somehow... he might be able to call for help. It felt almost pathetic to think about it that way, but in his situation, he didn't have much of a choice. Rather than push himself and completely fail, it was better to swallow his pride and allow others to help him.

And he _would_ get out of here- there was no question about that.

It probably wouldn't happen today. Quite frankly, he didn't have the strength to do it, and he was going to need a fair bit in order to do anything. For today, he needed to concentrate on trying to rest up, and gather up what strength he could. Everything after that would be a gamble, but it was better than just lying around here and waiting to be turned into some kind of lab rat.

It was true that might have been what he was meant to be at first. But that didn't mean that he had to accept that part- nor did it mean that he had to return to being one. In the time between now and then, he'd become something else- _someone_ else. In the end, that was the thing that mattered most.

Well, if he kept telling himself that, he'd eventually start thinking of it as true.

Speaking of handcuffs, though...

Opening up his eyes, Heiji turned his gaze up towards his handcuffed wrist with a deep frown. He had thought something was strange when he had first woken up, but hadn't had the time to dwell on it, not with those two in the room with him. Now that he had some time alone, however, he realized what the source of that was- his charm was missing. He knew for a fact that it had been tied around his wrist still when he had arrived at that lab, but somewhere between now and then, it had disappeared.

Kazuha would give him hell for it if it had been lost forever. Well, with any luck, he had dropped it when he'd been kidnapped- and it still chafed at him to think that he had allowed such a thing to happen to him. If that was the case, then Kudo would probably be able to put two and two together even sooner if he found it- something that would work out for his advantage.

But somehow, he didn't feel right without it. And to think he had spent so much time complaining about the way Kazuha forced him to carry it around- although he hadn't been doing much of that lately. The thing had managed to protect Kudo from being stabbed, after all, so maybe it really did carry some kind of power to it after all.

Power which he didn't have right now.

Closing his eyes again, Heiji wondered how he had managed to get himself into this mess. It was a stupid question, since he already knew the answer to it- he had allowed himself to get riled up by what that Amuro bastard had said, and had basically walked into their trap of his own free will. It frustrated him that he had done something that stupid, but he couldn't quite blame himself for it.

If he hadn't gone, he never would have been able to truly settle the questions that had plagued him ever since he had heard that man's name. Kawaguchi Souma... in a way, he almost wanted to meet the bastard that had given him such a haphazard body, and chew him out for everything that he was worth.

He also didn't want to ever have to meet that man. They might be separated by over fifty years at this point, but it didn't change the fact that they shared the same face. To think that there was another person out there with the exact same genetic makeup as him was... well, to be frank, Heiji still didn't quite know what to make of it, nor how he should feel about it.

He just knew that he didn't like it.

Still, he wondered how they planned on finding him, this Kawaguchi Souma person. Judging from the sound of it, it didn't seem as if they already knew where he was. And unlike the man that seemingly everyone he knew was looking for right now, Heiji hadn't spent his life hiding- on the contrary really, especially recently. Maybe he never got _quite_ the media coverage that Kudo did in his heyday, but he still cropped up in quite a few papers, and had even given one or two television interviews before.

Come to think of it though, he had to wonder now if the real reason why he got less offers for such things was because of his father. He had always acted as if he didn't care for the attention that his son was getting with the media, and at the time, Heiji had taken it to mean that he didn't care about his accomplishments as a high school detective... but perhaps the reason behind it was far more fatherly than he had given him credit for. The less media attention he got, the less likely it was that someone would recognize him.

If he got out of here, he was going to have to apologize to him. Apparently he owed more to his old man than he ever realized.

Well, that would come later- there was nothing he could do so long as he was stuck here. For the time being, he needed to try and gather his energy, and figure out a way out of here. Since he was already exhausted, all he could do now was turn his ear to the sounds leaking in from outside of the apartment, and try and gather what intelligence he could from them.

He doubted that they would have brought him back to Osaka city itself, but he was willing to bet that he was still somewhere within the Kansai region. They wouldn't have risked trying to transport him on the bullet train or by airplane, limiting them to transporting him by car. Since he didn't feel like that much time had passed since he had collapsed back at the lab, they could have only taken him so far.

It would be fine. He could do this. He could _more_ than do this.

He was _Hattori Heiji_ , after all. Be it some shady Organization, or even his own body, he wasn't about to let anything beat him.

* * *

It was pure chance that she had come across it, but once she had, she knew at once where it was that she needed to be right now.

"Kazuha-chan!" Pausing for a moment to catch her breath, Ran let out a sigh of relief as she finally located her friend. She had been worried when she hadn't been able to get in touch with her, even though she had tried calling her a few times on her way to the hospital. It seemed as if she had turned off her phone. "There you are! I was worried about you, you know!"

"Ran-chan." Giving her friend an apologetic look, Kazuha turned to face her. "I'm sorry, I put my phone on silent mode. But seein' that look on yer face makes me think that ya saw this, didn't ya?"

Holding up her cellphone, Kazuha brought up the article in question- the one that had started it all. Since it had been published a few hours ago, the story had spread to other news sites, with everyone clamoring for a piece of the action. Although they hadn't been allowed into the hospital yet, she could already see news station vans that had gathered outside of it.

Whether they were here for the father or the son, she wasn't sure. She had been trying to avoid them. The last thing that she wanted to deal with right now was bothersome reporters, not when Heiji was still missing like this. His father had told her that he had left of his own free will, but given what had been leaked, she had to wonder if there was more going on her than she knew.

"Yeah, I saw it." Ran told her frankly, nodding her head. There was no point in lying about it. "Since it mentioned Hattori-kun's father by name, I was worried that something might have happened, here so I came right over."

"If yer lookin' fer Uncle Heizo, he already left. Headin' back ta Osaka, from the sound of it." Kazuha told her, turning on her heel, glancing down at the news vans that were lining the hospital. "I think he mentioned somethin' about havin' a press conference, but honestly, I've been tryin' ta do everythin' but look at the news right now."

"I can't really blame you." Ran told her, closing the gap between the two of them. "On top of everything else, having to deal with something like this... has there been any word on Hattori-kun yet?"

"No." Kazuha said, shaking her head. "I still haven't been able ta get in touch with him. But it's fine, Ran-chan." Forcing a smile, she clutched her cellphone close to her chest, wondering how things had turned out like this. "Ya saw it, didn't ya? That picture."

For a moment, Ran almost didn't know what to say- before she slowly nodded her head. "Yeah, I did." Turning her gaze away from Kazuha, she found her own gaze falling on the news vans. Kazuha might not have been paying attention to the news, but she had been- and she knew that she wasn't the only one who had made that link. "It looked exactly like him. Hattori-kun, that is."

"It really did." Kazuha admitted, feeling her shoulders slump. "Well, Heiji would never make such a face, but other than that, the two of them could be twins."

Although she wanted to say something, Ran found herself unable to give voice to any of the thoughts that were currently floating in her mind. She might not be a detective, but it wasn't that hard to connect the dots. Just from that single photograph, Hattori Heizo's name being listed as one of the first responders to the scene, and the mention of a child survivor, she was able to draw a conclusion.

One that she would have otherwise found unthinkable, were it not for the strange things that Shinichi had said to her earlier.

 _"But I'm not just going away on_ _ **any**_ _case now. There's... there's something that I think I can do for Hattori right now."_

 _"It's not something that I can talk about freely just yet. I haven't even told_ _ **Hattori**_ _the details just yet, so I don't feel right telling anyone else before him."_

She hadn't understood what those words had meant back when they had been told to her- what possible use could a detective be when the situation was one that called for medical expertise, not a deduction? But if what she was thinking was true... then there was a reason for a detective after all.

"What am I gonna do, Ran-chan?" The voice that escaped from Kazuha was so faint, that for a moment, Ran wasn't even certain that she had spoken. With her expression masked by her hair, she tightly gripped the chain link of the fence that surrounded the roof, her knuckles white. "If it's really true, then..."

"Would it really change anything?" No sooner than the question was spoken, did Ran realize that it was a stupid question. Of course it would change things. It was impossible that it wouldn't. Reflecting on that, she closed her eyes, drawing in a long breath, before she turned to face her friend. "No, I suppose it would. The question I should be asking is if it would really change anything between you and Hattori-kun."

"Of course not!" The answer was quick, as Kazuha released her grip on the fence, turning to face Ran, her eyes wide at the mere implication of such a thing. "It _definitely_ wouldn't! Heiji is Heiji, no matter what! Even if he's... even if he's really..."

"Then, isn't that what matters most?" Ran asked, giving her the best smile that she could manage now. "Hattori-kun is Hattori-kun. He's not anyone else. I think those feelings are what's most important."

There was a small pause then, before Kazuha nodded her head, the smile that crossed her face fainter than before- but far less forced. "You're right. That's the most important thing, right? No matter what the rest of the world thinks of him, the only thing that really matters is what his friends an' family think, right?"

"That's right." Ran said, nodding her head. "Besides, we don't even know if it's true or not yet. We might be totally misunderstanding things." Even though she tried, she couldn't keep the doubt out of her own voice. Perhaps she would have been able to convince herself better had she not exchanged those words with Shinichi.

"That's true." Ran wasn't alone in being unable to fully conceal her doubt- it leaked out in Kazuha's voice as well. "But I have ta say, all of this would be a lot easier ta take if Heiji were actually _here_ right now. In his condition, where did that _idiot_ wander off ta?"

"Well, Hattori-kun is a detective." Ran told her. "Maybe he went to look into it himself? It's about him, after all."

"That could be, but..." With a slight frown on her face, Kazuha glimpsed at the article again. That certainly sounded like something that Heiji would do, but... "It doesn't quite fit. After all, this article wasn't published until _after_ Heiji vanished from his room. If he didn't learn about it from this, where _did_ he hear about it from?"

"...now that you mention it..."

* * *

He might not have been chief of police back when the cover up had actually happened, but given the fact that he had nevertheless been fundamental in it, it didn't come as any surprise to Hattori Heizo that the media coverage of his actions was currently rather scalding. If they were hoping to ruffle his feathers, they had another thing coming, however- he'd dealt with far worse situations than this.

It hadn't been the first time that he had given an emergency press conference like this, far from it, really. But it was the first time that said press conference would involve his son- who was, incidentally, still missing, according to his wife. Between the leaked information and his missing son, it was the latter that bothered him the most, however much it appeared as if Heiji had left out of his own free will.

With the leaking of this information, combined with the mysterious man who had visited Heiji's hospital room, Heizo already had a rather solid theory as to why Heiji had vanished. He'd sent out an officer to check out the ruins of the lab, just in case Heiji was there, but they had turned up nothing- other than traces that people had been there, and rather recently.

If one of them was his son... it was safe to say that he knew the truth that had been kept hidden from him, all these years. Usually, his son was rather easy to read- but in this situation, he couldn't imagine what Heiji might be thinking. For the moment, he'd tasked Ginshiro with trying to track down his wayward son, as much as he wanted to do it himself, he knew that he had another important duty to fulfill.

And that was dealing with the talk of a cover up, with yet another cover up. Because just as he had suspected- it hadn't taken the media that long for them to start drawing their own conclusions, especially here in Osaka, where his son's face was rather well known. If he had known that it would come to this, he never would have allowed Heiji to start acting as a high school detective.

So he thought, but in reality, he knew that was a lie.

The reporters that had gathered for the press conference were practically buzzing, waiting for the moment that he finished giving his statement in order to ask questions. It was a rather simple explanation that he gave- that the existence of a child found alive at the scene of the incident had been concealed for the sake of the child. The reason given was, of course, not wanting to expose a young child to media frenzy- at which he directed a rather pointed look towards the crowd.

Quite a number of them wilted at that comment, unable to find it in them to argue that point. After all, their presence here was very much testament to the fact that his past estimation had been entirely correct- that the media would have swarmed should they have learned that detail. It would be enough hold the tongues of a number of them- but not all of them, he knew.

Ideally, he would have liked to have discussed the matter with Heiji himself in private before this- but that wasn't possible at the moment. Instead he had settled for privately discussing it with Shizuka, revealing the truth that he had long since hidden from her as well. Though it had taken her a moment to grasp it, he knew that she too, could still clearly recall the strange toddler that had been brought into their lives on that day.

While she was angry at Heizo for keeping the truth from her for so long, Shizuka had nevertheless made it clear that nothing would change after this revelation. She had been the one to fall in love with that strange child herself, regardless of where he might have come from, and had only come to love the boy more and more with every passing day. Something as small as him being grown in a lab wasn't about to change that.

"Is it true that the boy rescued from the scene that day was your son, Hattori-san?"

Exactly the opening question that he had expected. As he turned his gaze towards the reporter who had asked it, he watched as they flinched underneath his stern expression, but nevertheless, refused to retract the question. If he applied pressure to silence them, or said nothing in this situation, it would do him no favors- and to that end, he had already prepared a carefully crafted answer.

"That's correct." Heizo admitted plainly, lingering a moment over the question before he did so, giving the illusion of consideration. "The boy rescued from that building that day was indeed my son."

For a moment, there was nothing but chatter amongst the reporters, the implications of this statement washing over them. It took a minute to calm themselves, before the next one called out, bearing yet another question that Heizo had entirely anticipated on their lips.

"What connection does your son have to Kawaguchi Souma? Given the photograph that was recently leaked of him, there's certainly an undeniable resemblance between the two of them."

"That's understandable." Heizo said simply, keeping his voice level, even amongst the buzzing that his words created. "As I'm sure many of you have realized, Heiji is not related by blood to either my wife or I. We adopted him after that incident stole both of his parents from him."

And there was where the lies began, and his gamble with it. Were Kawaguchi Souma himself to emerge to refute it, there would be almost nothing that he could do to salvage the situation that would result from it. But even if that happened, at least for a little while, people would believe this version of events- save for those who would cling to the idea of a deeper conspiracy.

"His parents?" Another reporter spoke up, not doing much to mask the skepticism on their voice. "Are you claiming that Kawaguchi Souma is his actual father?"

"That's correct." Heizo said simply. "Given that he was found together in an emergency shelter with one of the other researchers that worked there, a young woman by the name of Makino Suzume, we're under the impression that the two of them had a child together. Unfortunately, that child happened to be there on that day. Thanks to the efforts of his mother, however, his life was spared, at the cost of her own."

There was a hush of silence that fell over the room then, but if they were searching for any signs of a lie on his face, they wouldn't find it. Their thoughts, however, were very much visible on their faces, as Heizo watched them process the information that they had been given. Part lies, and part truth- such a method would allow them to swallow what they had been given far easier than trying to deny outright that Heiji had any connection to the scene.

The biggest truth, and the one that would serve to their advantage, was doubtlessly the fact that Makino Suzume had traded away her own life for the child that she had in part, helped to create. To many, the idea that someone would be willing to throw their lives away for a clone would be unthinkable- allowing them to easily believe that rather than a clone, the child found at the scene was indeed, just a normal child, and her son at that.

She was, however, the kind of woman who would risk her life for a clone. Whatever kind of thoughts that his son was thinking right now, that was one thing that he wanted to ensure was made clear to him. That among those who had been involved with bringing him into this world, there was one, at least, who cared for him as an individual.

He had already spoken in private with Makino Suzume's father before this, of course. The man had merely given him an exasperated answer that he only wanted to put the situation with his daughter behind him, and wouldn't refute anything that he said today. Given that his daughter would now be painted as something of a hero, where before she had merely been a researcher involved in a rather dubious bit of research, would perhaps provide him some cold comfort.

There would be those who wouldn't believe the fabricated truth that he was putting forward today- but they would be a rather small number. Given time, and given nothing else to dispute the lie, their voices would eventually fade into the background, as the story was slowly forgotten. That would be the ideal outcome.

But in this situation, there were still too many uncertain variables- Kawaguchi Souma himself being almost the least of them. Heiji was of course, still missing- and had likely already realized the truth for himself. He wouldn't be able to fool him that easily, and would likely have to accept any feelings that might be thrown his way after her finally reemerged.

And there was, of course, the fact that his son was still very much dying- just at a much slower rate than before. He had many questions that he yet needed to ask of Kudo Shinichi, who had confirmed that the recent uptick in Heiji's condition was in fact, due to the efforts of his aforementioned reliable scientist. Chief among them was, of course, if there was something that was more permanent that could be done for him.

There was one other thing that he wanted to ask- a question to which he got the distinct feeling that the young man would know the answer to. Who, exactly was it that had visited his room then- and what was it that they wanted from his son.

There was an element to all of this that was as of yet unknown to him- but he had every intention of finding out _what_.

* * *

"You seem relieved, Kudo-kun."

"That's because I am." Conan stated plainly, slumping back in his seat a little, feeling just a hint of the tension that had gathered in his shoulders wash out of them. His phone was currently set to play the live feed of Heizo's press conference, something that he knew he couldn't miss. "At the very least, this should nip most of the rumors in the bud."

"Provided they believe him." Ai noted, a slightly skeptical tone to her voice.

"They probably will." Conan said, glancing over towards her, switching the feed off. It was pretty much over anyways. "The reasons that he gave for the Osakan police hiding the information about a survivor in the first place were all sound, and most people are going to be more inclined to believe a more normal sounding explanation. Hattori being Kawaguchi-san's son makes more sense than him being his clone."

"Even though it's the truth." Ai couldn't help but observe. "Well, I suppose it's for the best. I don't think Hattori-kun would deal very well with that kind of attention. Provided we manage to rescue him, of course."

" _Idiot_ , of course we will." A note of irritation rising in his voice at the implication, Conan shot her something of a sour look. "Hattori's my best friend. There's no way that I'm going to let anyone hurt him. Even if it's the Organization."

"Well, the Organization might be the one you have to worry about less, in this instance. Who knows what Kawaguchi-san is planning on doing to him if he finds him?" Ai said, rising to her feet. "More importantly, where do you intend to go from here, Kudo-kun? The longer that Hattori-kun goes without his shot, the worse it will be for him."

"I know that." Grumbling at her words, Conan cast a glance towards where Agasa's car was parked. "But right now I don't have enough clues to go off of. Until Jodie-san gets back to me..."

As if on cue, his phone rang. Feeling the edges of his lips curl into a hint of a smile, Conan cast a glance towards Ai. Watching as she heaved a slightly annoyed sigh, before giving him some distance, Conan answered the call. "Well? Were you able to get in contact with her, Jodie-san?"

"I was." Jodie's voice almost sounded like a song from the heavens for a moment- though he knew that was just his imagination. "She wasn't able to talk for very long, however, and she didn't know that much, I'm afraid. She only knows that the orders came from somewhere higher in the food chain than Vermouth, but she doesn't know from who."

That, he had to admit, he didn't like the sound of. But he'd known from the start that it was naive to think that Vermouth and Bourbon were working on their own here- not when they were trying to pull in such a big fish. Vermouth was probably the one who had provided the information, but it would appear that someone else was currently pulling her strings- which reduced the odds of him being able to negotiate with her.

Not a situation he much cared for- but not one that he couldn't turn around.

"Is there anything else?" Conan asked. "Any hints to where they might be?"

"I'm afraid not." Jodie told him frankly. "She said that she would keep her ears open, but right now, she doesn't have any leads. I'm sorry, Conan-kun."

Taking in and letting out a deep breath, Conan steadied himself before he answered. He had expected something like this, to be frank- but at the very least, he had confirmation of what he had previously suspected. Still, it wasn't as if he had run out of options just yet- there was still one other angle to approach this from. "And? Have you been able to find anything out about who was funding Kawaguchi-san's research?"

"Ah, about that, actually..." There was a small pause there, Conan just faintly able to make out the sound of a turn signal clicking. So she was driving somewhere right now. "...I found what might very well be a lead."

"And you're heading there right now?" Conan asked.

"That's right." Jodie told him. "I was able to track down most of the people who had been funding Kawaguchi-san's research fifteen years ago, but it would appear that most of them haven't had any contact with him since. However, after doing some digging, I found that one of them was actually making some rather strange deposits every month."

"Strange deposits?" Conan asked, almost feeling that hint of a smile returning to his face. "In other words, he's probably still funding him."

"That's what I think. From the sound of it, he's a rather rich old fellow on rather bad terms with those who might inherit his estate." Jodie noted. "Unfortunately, I wasn't able to track where the deposits went, but I _did_ notice that he made a rather large one around five years ago. If what I'm thinking is correct, it might very well be good news for Hattori-kun, Conan-kun."

"Yeah, that might be." Now there was a full blown grin on his face- because if those deposits really were being sent to Kawaguchi, then it was very likely that the singular, large one was intended for a different purpose than mere research funding. "So? Where does this rich old man live? If he's actually making something like that for him, I can't help but imagine that he'd want to keep Kawaguchi-san rather close."

"It appears that he lives in the Aomori prefecture. Thankfully, I was able to get his address." Jodie told him. "I should be there in around half an hour. If they're really trying to lure out Kawaguchi-san by using Hattori-kun as bait, if everything goes well, I might even be able to glean a bit of information as to his location."

"Let's hope." Conan said. "Anyways, contact me if you learn anything else, Jodie-sensei. I'll call you if we manage to locate Heiji-niichan before then."

"I got it. Be safe, Cool Kid."

With a promise that he would, Conan hung up the phone, releasing a breath that he had been holding. It wasn't the news that he wanted- but it _was_ news, and it was information. If they could find Kawaguchi Souma before the Organization did, then perhaps they would be able to locate Heiji with him.

And if he had already taken the bait, then there was one place that he was very likely to come through- all the more so if he was really coming all the way from Aomori prefecture. Springing to his feet, Conan caught Ai's gaze, who merely let out another sigh before she followed him back towards the Professor's car.

"Professor!" Conan called out, hurrying to his side. "I need you to take us to the airport."


	15. Genes

**AN** : Hello everyone, it's me, back with the next chapter! Sorry for keeping you waiting! I should probably go ahead and give everyone a heads up that I'll be going on a vacation next week, from Tuesday to the following Tuesday. While I should have internet where I'm going, I'll probably be in the car both of those Tuesdays, and beyond that, updates will probably be delayed due to, yanno, vacation and all that.

Thanks for sticking with me, and thanks for reading! Leave a review if you can, and until next time!

* * *

 **Collapse**

 **Chapter Fifteen**

 **Genes**

* * *

"They got us."

She didn't even need to enter the grounds of the sprawling manor to know that the Organization had been one step ahead of them. The police cars and fire engines out front were more than clue enough of that, if the smoldering ruin that used to be the mansion somehow wasn't. She had very little doubt that the man that she had come here to speak with was dead, and that any clues he might have had that would lead to Kawaguchi Souma's whereabouts had either been taken, or burned.

Either way, it meant that the Organization was one step ahead of them.

It wouldn't be a pleasant thing to report back to Conan, but it was something that she had to do nonetheless. Hopefully things would turn out better on his end than it had for her. She had been keeping tabs on the news, so she hadn't missed the current story that was spreading around, as if it were wildfire.

It would appear that the boy's father had mostly managed to handle it, which was all well and good, but it was a method that still turned her stomach. She was no stranger to the Organization's methods, and while compared to some others, this was almost tame by their standards, it still was something that involved the life of what was to her, simply a child. High school detective or not, a child was a child- as someone who had her own childhood stolen away from her, she understood that better than anyone.

Whether or not he would be able to go back to a normal life after this, she honestly couldn't say. The Organization wasn't the type to give up on what they wanted, and since they had gone so far as to abduct him, it was obvious that his father's position wasn't nearly enough to protect him. Even if they got him back, and even if for some reason, the Organization decided to give up on him, there was still the media fallout to be dealt with. Even if he had been passed off as Kawaguchi Souma's son, with that man's reputation, and with an appearance so close to his own...

Even for someone with Heiji's personality, it wouldn't be an easy thing to shake.

And this was all, of course, not even touching about the physical issues that would come. She hadn't been passed many details about that, but what she had been able to glean was the fact that the odds that he would be able to return to his regular way of life with very slim, if not impossible.

Still, if nothing else, he had friend and family by his side who would understand and support him. Even those who knew the truth- and especially them, really. Having gone without that kind of support system while growing up, she knew the impact of having them quite keenly. While they wouldn't be able to turn back time, nor make him well, they would provide him with something that was worth it's weight in gold- love, support, and above all, acceptance.

Hopefully, that would be enough.

Heaving a sight sigh, Jodie pushed herself back from the steering wheel of her car, reaching for her phone that she had placed in the cup holder. Bringing up Conan's number, she readied herself to tell him the bad news.

* * *

"I see. Thanks for telling me, Jodie-sensei."

He didn't need to catch Agasa and Ai's worried glances out of the corner of his eyes to know that he had quite the expression on his face. It wasn't news that he had wanted to hear after all, even if it was news that he had fully expected. The Organization didn't do things in halves, and Amuro was no exception, mole though he might be.

And he was very clearly not acting in that caliber right now. While it was possible he was hoping to lure out Kawaguchi Souma into the open for the sake of the Public Security Bureau as well, that still didn't make his methods any more excusable. As he thought, he just couldn't trust that guy.

"I'm taking from that look on your face that it didn't go as hoped." Ai merely noted, keeping her tone rather neutral. She _was_ bothered by this whole situation, of course, but it wouldn't do her a bit of good to allow such feelings to overwhelm her. "That FBI woman was too late, wasn't she?"

"Yeah, seems like it." Conan noted, tucking his phone back into his pocket. "When she got there, the mansion was already a smoldering ruin."

"That certainly sounds like them." Ai noted, closing her eyes. "So? What do you plan on doing now, Kudo-kun? Is there something you expect to find at the airport."

"Yeah." Nodding his head, Conan forced a smile onto his face. "From what I can understand of Kawaguchi-san, I don't think he would risk setting up a new base of operations so close to the lab that had burned down in such a sensational way. He probably moved to another prefecture entirely, one that's likely to be quite the distance from Osaka."

"But since he was still in contact with some of the people funding him, I doubt he would entirely leave Japan either." Conan noted. "While it's possible that he might try and come by train, the odds that he might fly into Osaka by plane are much higher, especially if he's in any kind of a hurry. Which, given what he should know about what he made," and he couldn't help but turn up his nose in disgust at the phrase, "...he probably would be."

"I see. In other words, he wants to get here before his precious research sample expires." Ai noted, a tight frown on her face.

"Probably." Conan told her. "That's why if we ask around the airport about a man who might match Kawaguchi-san's description, there's a chance we might get a hit. And if he took a taxi from the airport..."

"We might find out where he went." Ai finished for him. "I see. It's worth checking out."

"Right?" Conan asked. "Anyways, you and the Professor wait here."

"Shouldn't we come with you, Shinichi?" Agasa asked, a frown of his own on his face.

"Idiot, there's a chance that there might be Organization members looking for Kawaguchi-san just the same." Conan told them. "If there's a chance that there might be any here waiting for him, we can't risk them seeing Haibara's face."

"After all, without me around, you won't be able to create the serum that Hattori-kun needs, right?" Ai asked, casting a glance back towards him. "Well, I'll sit here and be good this time, Kudo-kun. I can't say that I like the idea of letting the first patient I've had die on me."

Being able to save a life, was truly a novel concept for her- and not one she disliked.

" _Idiot_ , it's not just that." Conan grumbled, deciding to leave it at that. He didn't have the time to bicker with her right now. "Anyways, wait for me. If I find anything, I'll call to let you know."

* * *

"Ah, I _have_ seen someone like that, actually. He stood out quite a bit, so I remember him well."

Perking up right away at this, Conan's eyes all but lit up. If that was true, then it was the first piece of really good news that he had had all day. "Is that true? When?"

"Let's see..." With a slight frown, the woman tapped a finger against her chin in thought, trying to recall. "I don't feel like it was that long ago, but I don't really keep track of that sort of thing. Maybe around two hours ago?"

Two hours ago... more time had passed than he would have liked, but he could still work with this. There was a chance that the Organization hadn't contacted him directly just yet, and if that was the case, then they still had time. Ideally, rather than confront the man directly, he would allow him to lead them to where Heiji was being kept, so that they could both rescue him from there, as well as capture Kawaguchi Souma himself.

"Did you see which way he went, oneechan? We were supposed to meet him here, but it seems like he got confused, and got lost somewhere trying to meet us himself." Conan told her, lying through his teeth.

"Mmm, I think he went towards the taxi area." The woman noted, turning her head in that direction. "It's just out there. You're in luck, though, boy. I don't think many of our drivers have changed shifts just yet, so unless they're out delivering another passenger, you might be able to find them."

"Thank you, oneechan!" With a bright smile, Conan waved a hand towards her, heading towards the taxi reception area. So far, so good- he could only hope that he could track down the taxi driver that had dropped the man off somewhere, and that he would still remember both exactly where and when it had happened.

Still, he had to force himself not to get too carried away with his own hope- this was the Organization they were dealing with, and doing something like that could be reckless. The last thing that he wanted to do was get carried away with it, only to find them crushed later. That wouldn't do him any favors, not right now.

The Organization wasn't only using Heiji as bait- they were probably also going to trade him off to Kawaguchi, in exchange for either his research data, or his agreement to work for them. He didn't doubt that the man would accept, at the very least, for so long as it took him to get his hands on Heiji- to that bastard, he was probably a very valuable research sample indeed.

Even if there was a chance that he had already perfected his cloning process to the point where he could accept commissions for them, there was no way he wouldn't be interested in the data that Heiji would provide. And while it churned his gut to even think of his friend this way, if only for a moment, it was needed- if he didn't try and get in Kawaguchi's head, it would be all the harder to figure out what kind of moves he would make.

Based on what he had heard from his sister, he doubted that he would take much action to extend Heiji's life- save for what was needed to complete whatever research he wanted to do. If he got his hands on him before they could intervene... he didn't want to think about what could happen. Even if they did manage to find them, not only would more time have passed than what would be ideal, but it was impossible to say what he might have gone through in the duration.

Heiji deserved so much more than to be treated as some kind of lab rat. Even he didn't know him personally, he would think the same. Even an artificial human was still a human, after all- it was just that they had come into the world a bit differently.

What Heiji deserved was his life and well being back- and he would do whatever he could to give it to him.

* * *

"Do you have a moment, auntie?"

Letting out a long breath, Shizuka cast a small smile towards the young girl who had called out to her. It wasn't just years of knowing her that allowed her to so easily read what was on her mind, but rather, it was the expression on her face.

"What is, Kazuha-chan?" Shizuka asked lightly, setting down her needlepoint for the time being. Though Heizo had told her not to worry, telling a mother not to worry when her son was missing was a fruitless endeavor. What she had been told about him did nothing to change that- if anything, it only made her worry all the more.

Something that, she suspected, Kazuha had more or less figured out on her own. Though she wasn't a detective like her son, she was nevertheless a clever girl, and of all the people that they knew they wouldn't be able to fool with the story that Heizo had concocted, Kazuha was at the top of the list.

She'd grown up with him, after all. Perhaps even now, she was starting to recall faint memories from her childhood, of things that seemed rather strange. To think that the two of them had come so far, though... at the very beginning, Kazuha had been fed up with the strange boy that she had been told to befriend, too young to understand the adult's explanation for why he wasn't playing with her the way she wanted, and too old to not bothered by it.

Well, in some things, perhaps things hadn't entirely changed. Though he didn't always mean it, Heiji always kept doing things that frustrated her. But for awhile there, neither she nor Heizo had been quite sure if this friendship would even work out.

They never would have been able to imagine back then that the two of them would have ended up falling in love with each other. And it was for that reason exactly, that Kazuha, at the very least, deserved to know the truth.

Though if she had to be honest, she would have preferred if it could be Heiji himself who could have told her. Judging from the timing of the article, and his absence, she had no doubt that he had discovered the truth for himself- even if the circumstances under which he had were still a mystery to her. But since he wasn't here, she would have to do it in his place, it would seem.

"I want ta talk ta ya about Heiji." Kazuha said, drawing in a deep breath, taking a step forward. "About what was published. About what Uncle Heizo said. It's not true, is it?"

For a moment, Shizuka simply sat in silence, thinking how best to reply to this question. Patting the seat next to her, she waited until the girl took a seat, before she spoke. Rushing into things wouldn't help, not right now.

"It's true." Shizuka told her. "At the very least, the fact that Heizo found Heiji where he did is true. The reason why the police back then kept it a secret is also true."

"But the rest..." Kazuha trailed off, almost unable to bring herself to quite say it. "...the rest isn't true, is it?"

"Would it would matter if it wasn't?" Shizuka asked, a slight smile on her face. "To you, that is."

"I-" Kazuha began, before she shook her head. "No, it wouldn't. No matter what, no matter who he might be, or where he might have come, in the end, Heiji is just Heiji. I don't think that'll ever change."

"But Auntie Shizuka... even if doesn't change anythin', I still need ta know." Kazuha told her, an imploring expression on her face. "I don't want ta be left in the dark, not about somethin' this important. Not when it's probably the reason that Heiji's... that Heiji's in the state he is right now. It _is_ , isn't it?"

"According to Heizo, it seems so." Shizuka told her, closing her eyes, turning her head forward. "I didn't know about it myself either until recently. I always suspected that Heiji might have come from somewhat odd circumstances, considering how little he knew about the world when we took him in, but I never could have imagined..."

Shaking her head a little, Shizuka pushed such thoughts aside. "But you're right, Kazuha-chan. It really doesn't change anything, does it? In the end, even if I knew this back then, I think I still would have fallen in love with him as a mother. Back then, all I could think of was protecting that child, and teaching him everything that he didn't have cause to know. Though it could be quite hard at times!"

"I mean, he couldn't even talk at first! I couldn't even take my eyes off him for a second, otherwise he would get into some kind of trouble." Shizuka told her, feeling a fond smile pull at the corners of her mouth. "It's strange to think about it now, that he was once like that."

"Was it really like that?" Kazuha blinked, more than a little surprised by this information. Now that she mentioned it though, it felt as if she could faintly recall something like that. "It's hard ta imagine a Heiji that's not chattin' away."

"It was like that once, really." Shizuka told her, nodding her head, giving the girl a smile. "But you're right... it's hard to imagine now. He's grown up so face, that son of mine. Perhaps a little _too_ fast, really."

There was an unspoken undercurrent to her words, equal part fervent hope and pleading wish, that he would have the chance to grow even further than this. Though she was smiling, her smile wasn't as radiant as it usually was, tinged by sorrow and worry that there might be nothing that they could do to stave off what almost seemed inevitable. And with the person in question not actually being here... it only made everything worse.

Really, where had he gotten off to, at a time like this? If he ran away from them, they wouldn't be able to tell him just how little the truth actually mattered to them.

For a moment, the two of them sat in silence. Kazuha's gaze drifted towards the floor, staring at her shoes, wondering what she could say- or should say- from here. She never expected that she would ever end up involved in something like this, but it seemed that this was the reality. Heiji's father wouldn't lie about something like this, not at a time like this. If he said it was true, then...

"He's more than just that, ya know." For a moment, she wasn't even certain if she had said that out loud, until she noticed Shizuka faintly stirring at her side. "I don't care how much he looks like this _Kawaguchi_ jerk, Heiji is Heiji. He's not some copy, or anythin' like that. he's a huge, one of a kind _idiot_!"

Unable to help herself, Shizuka let out a faint laugh. "I suppose he is." She said, reaching out a hand, carefully placing it on the girl's head. "There's no one in the world that can replace him."

"Yeah." Nodding her head, Kazuha flashed Shizuka a small smile of her own, rising to her feet. "I'm goin' ta go out an' see if there's anythin' I can do right now, Auntie Shizuka. I don't feel right just sittin' around here like this!"

"Is that so?" Shizuka asked, before she slowly nodded her head. "Then, be careful, Kazuha-chan. Heizo hasn't told me anything about it quite yet, however..." Narrowing her eyes, she once more recalled the man's expression when he had told her about everything, "...there's something more to this. Someone had to have had a reason to leak that information with this timing, so if you sense the least bit of danger, I want you to promise me to be careful."

For a moment, Kazuha could only swallow. Of course, she had suspected as much herself- the timing was too good to be a mere coincidence. But to hear that much stated outright... still, it wasn't enough to waver her resolve.

"I will." Slowly, she felt a genuine smile pull at the edges of her lips, an almost fond expression on her face. "If I'm the one who rushes in an' gets themselves hurt, I don't think I'd _ever_ hear the end of it from Heiji. I don't want ta deal with that!"

She just had to hope that Heiji was alright- if there really was something more to this situation than she knew, then...

No, no, it was too early to be thinking about things like that. If there was one thing she knew about Heiji, had always known, it was the fact that he was stubborn- down to his very core. Whoever it was that had published that article, and whatever their goals were, there was no way that Heiji would ever give in to someone as underhanded as that!

Even if his body was failing him, he would fight to the end. But in order to prevent that very scenario from playing out, she would do what she could. If she didn't... she might never have the chance to tell him what was on her mind right now, to make sure he knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, how much she loved him.

Regardless of how it was that he had come into this world.

And if she got the chance to deck the bastard who had brought him into it with such a half-assed body... well, then sharing the same face with her childhood friend was hardly enough to protect him. That empty eyed bastard... if he really _was_ still alive, she wasn't about to let him get out of this without giving him a piece of her mind!

* * *

"Ah, Shinichi? If this is a bad time, I can call again later, but..."

"Ah, no!" For a moment, he had been so lost in thought that he almost hadn't realized what phone was ringing, but thankfully, Conan had managed to recover before anything disastrous had happened. "Right now is fine, Ran. What's the matter?"

He did sort of have an idea as to why she was calling, really- it was all over the news right now, after all. After Heizo's press conference, all the more so. As someone who was close to the situation, it would have been impossible for her to have _not_ heard about it yet. Ran was clever enough to figure out that what Heizo had claimed publicly about the matter was partly a fabrication- so it didn't really surprise him that she would call him at some point.

There wasn't much he could do at the moment anyways. They had found the taxi driver that had picked up Kawaguchi Souma at the airport, and right now, they were on their way to where he had let him off. As he thought, they were probably still within the Osaka prefecture, but even if they had managed to narrow it down, there was still plenty of ground to cover, and not a whole lot of time to do it in.

But none of that could actually start until they actually _got_ there.

"You've seen it, right?" Ran asked. "The story about Hattori-kun's father."

"Yeah, I've seen it." Pausing to switch hands, Conan got himself a bit more comfortable. "It seemed like he handled the whole matter rather smoothly though, from the look of things."

"As I thought, you already knew." He could make out a faint sound on the other end of the line- a sigh, he suspected. "How long have you known, Shinichi?"

"I had it figured out for around a day before I came to visit Hattori in the hospital." Conan told her frankly, seeing no reason to hide this from her, not when it was obvious that she had already pieced it together herself. Though she didn't say it outright, it really wasn't that hard to guess. "After that kid, Conan-kun, called me, I began to look into some things, and discovered something strange in Hattori's medical history. Namely, that he didn't even have any before the age of three."

"And well... one thing lead to another, and before I knew it..." Conan trailed off, letting out something of a bitter laugh. "I didn't want to believe it either, not at first. But after I actually went to that place, I knew that I couldn't deny the truth any longer."

"That place?" Ran asked. "You mean, the place mentioned in the news article?"

"Yeah, that's the place." Conan said, nodding his head. "Well, it's probably crawling with journalists right now, so I wouldn't recommend heading that way if I were you. Tell Kazuha-chan that as well, if she's with you."

"She went to speak with Hattori-kun's mom a little bit ago." Ran told him. "But it's really true then, isn't it? That Hattori-kun is..."

"Yeah." Closing his eyes, Conan drew in a long breath. "It's really true."

"I see." From the sound of her voice, it would appear that she had been holding out a vague hope that it was still a lie, and he almost hated letting her down this way. "You're looking for him, aren't you, Shinichi? That Kawaguchi Souma person."

"I am." Conan told her. "I finally found a lead. Hopefully I'll be able to catch his tail yet."

"You've heard, right?" Ran asked, concern lacing her tone. "That Hattori-kun went missing from the hospital in the afternoon."

"Yeah, that kid told me." Conan said. "Don't worry, Ran! I'm sure Hattori's fine. He probably just has some things to work out, that's all. Well, that said, I can't say I really agree with his choice here, but I'm sure he'll come back eventually. He's not so stubborn that he wouldn't seek help if he really needed it."

There was no way that he could add to Ran's worries by telling her the truth, not now, at least. As for later... well, perhaps. A bit of it, at the very least.

"If you say so." Ran's tone was unconvinced, and he could almost hear the frown on her face. "But do you think he'll be alright, Shinichi? Hattori-kun, that is."

"Well, that's..." Pausing to consider his words, Conan frowned himself. "Physically, I can't really give you a solid answer, Ran. If things work out with Kawaguchi-san, then maybe, but..." Shaking his head, pushing himself away from that trail of thought, he focused on the more positive. "Mentally though, he'll probably be fine. Hattori's a strong person, so I know he'll recover from this."

"He's not the type to wallow for too long in such thoughts to begin with." Conan told her. "Besides what he might be doesn't change the fact that he has people who care for him. In time, I'm sure he'll be back to his normal self."

At the very least, _mentally_.

"Then, I'll trust you on that, Shinichi." Ran said. "But I'm not a fool, you know? I know there's something more going on here right now. I won't press you about it now, since you're probably busy, but... I want to hear about it someday."

"Yeah, someday." Conan promised her. Maybe not the whole truth, but enough. Whatever came of this... there were things that he would be unable to keep silent. This time, ignorance would not provide any form of protection, and while he didn't doubt that Heiji would grumble at the notion of needing to be _protected_ , it was nevertheless necessary.

"But before that, you have to bring Hattori-kun home to everyone, Shinichi." Ran told him. "To his parents and Kazuha-chan especially."

"I will." Conan promised her, a faint smile on his lips. "I promise, Ran."

* * *

For a brief moment, she wondered if he were faking it. It didn't take long for her to realize this wasn't the case at all- and that their _guest_ had well and truly fallen asleep.

To fool a great actress such as herself, one would require a great deal of talent indeed. Almost as much, if not more, than Yukiko possessed- and though she didn't doubt that the sleeping boy was indeed, rather talented in so far as high school detectives went, she nevertheless doubted that he had much talent when it came to acting.

She knew, she had seen him try. While he had certainly gotten a few things right, what he had slipped up on was far too glaring- the mark of a pure amateur, really. Still, to think that she would cross paths with the boy who had made it amply clear to her that he most likely knew the true identity of Edogawa Conan like this... life certainly worked in funny ways, sometimes.

She couldn't claim that the idea of endangering someone who was not only one of his allies, but was also one of his close friends, didn't leave a bad taste in her mouth. However, her protection only extended towards the silver bullet himself, as well as the angel- not to mention, the orders this time had come from higher up. So, regrettable though it was, she had no choice but to comply with them.

There were certain things that she couldn't afford to risk, after all.

Still, she had faith in his skills- her silver bullet. If anyone were able to track them down on so few clues, it would be him.

That said, she didn't doubt that someone who had a reputation for being as stubborn as Hattori Heiji would stay put for very long, regardless of the poor condition of his body. Given half the chance, he would do whatever he could to escape from here, and contact his friend- which in a way, was exactly what she wanted.

As for Bourbon, well... even if he suspected something, he would likely hold his tongue. He was well aware of her position as the boss' favorite, after all. He wasn't about to risk his own position within the Organization over something like this.

But in order to do any of that, he needed sleep, she supposed. Watching the rather unsteady rise and fall of his chest, Vermouth pursed her lips together. Really, fate really did play out in strange ways sometimes... she never would have thought that out of all the clones to survive, it would be _this_ one.

It was a hard image to forget. Seven children, all with identical faces, being cultivated in a place like that. Six children, with blank expressions, and even more blank eyes, little more than dolls, composed of meat and bone, created to be scrapped, disposed of, once they had proven their use. If there was such a thing as a soul, which she found herself pondering from time to time, there was no such thing present there, among them.

There was one more child, though, with bright eyes and a deep curiosity. One more child, and a woman, who swallowed hard when she thought nobody was looking, as the man who shared his face described what the current batch of clones was being created for, and what their purpose was.

Something had happened at that lab. And considering that man was willing to come back here, to then, she was starting to suspect that whatever it was, it had very little indeed to do with _them_. There was no doubt that _they_ were a factor, but perhaps, not the core reason as to why things had unfolded as they did. Perhaps it was something more fundamental, something far more deeply rooted, in the man who shared the same eyes as the six children, though he had come into this world in the embrace of a mother himself.

Really, though they shared the same face, the two of them were nothing alike. Even though she had only spoken to each of them once, it was enough to draw such a conclusion.

 _"When there's a cog that's broken, it's a sign that the machine as a whole needs to be disposed of. Who knows what else might be lurking within it, that might break down when you need it the most. When it comes to research, no such errors can be permitted."_

Come to think of it, that was the only time she had ever seen that man smile.

* * *

Pitch black.

When had he become so accustomed to waking up to the stark white of a hospital room? It was almost depressing to think about, really. Slowly blinking his eyes, Heiji tried to gather his wits around him, dimly taking note of the fact that his breathing seemed less stable than it had been before he had fallen asleep. That, he knew, wasn't a good sign, but if he let himself get caught up in thoughts like that, nothing good would come of it.

He had gotten himself into this mess, so he was going to get himself out of it. It was a simple as that.

Or at least, he'd like to say that- in reality, he knew that wasn't the case.

His gaze flickering up towards the small window, for the moment, Heiji continued to lie where he was. Getting up would take quite a bit of energy, and he wasn't sure if he had that just yet. It was best to try and get his bearings once more, before he pushed himself. Considering how pitch black the room he was being kept in was now, that was going to be easier said than done.

Honestly, if he had to deal with being some kind of artificial human, why couldn't he at least be the _cool_ kind? At the very least, give him night vision or something like that! As usual, when things that seemed like they belonged in science fiction came into reality, they were only ever disappointing.

Grimacing a little, realizing he was talking about himself, Heiji shook off such thoughts. Judging from the lights that flickered past the window above the bed at regular intervals, it was probably night. Given that the amount of cars on the road had seemed to decrease, he was going to guess that it was also rather late at night, on top of that- which explained how dark it was in here.

Turning his head towards where he knew the door was, Heiji narrowed his eyes. Although there was a faint bit of light coming in from underneath the doorframe, from the small amount, and the way it wavered, it would appear that it's source wasn't from a light fixture. Some kind of candle, or a lantern? If that was the case, it seemed all the more likely that the apartment he was in was located in some kind of abandoned building.

Either that, or they just didn't want anyone to know that they were here. But if that was the case, they wouldn't have picked a location that was so close to a major road.

An abandoned building, probably some kind of apartment complex, or even an office building of some kind, was likely where he was being kept. Probably somewhere within Osaka prefecture as well- but probably outside his usual stomping grounds, where less people would recognize his face, and where he wouldn't know the streets as well. There were plenty of places like that- not enough to go off of.

Judging from the fact that there was light outside of his room, someone was probably still there. Even if the door to the room he was kept in wasn't locked from the outside, he was in no condition to fight off whoever it was that waited out there for him. If he wanted to escape from here, he couldn't do it that way.

As for the window... even if he were able to get it open, which was doubtful, there was no way that he would be able to fit through it. He'd lost weight and muscle tone alike, that much he had noticed when dressed himself, but not so much that he would be able to slip through a small opening like that. If he couldn't go out the door, and couldn't go out the window... well, there must be some _other_ way to escape.

Any further thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his stomach growling, and Heiji could only let out a faint laugh at that. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't eaten anything since this morning- that probably wasn't helping his condition at all. Since his sense of taste was now gone, eating had become something of a chore- no matter how much one needed it, it just wasn't the same when it tasted like nothing at all.

The thought that he might lose any of his other senses was terrifying, and for the moment, he was trying not to dwell on it. As for the other things that might eventually slip away from him, if his condition was left unchecked... well, he didn't want to think about that either. But if he didn't manage to escape from here, or if Kudo couldn't find him, that was going to have to be the reality he would face.

He'd rather not, frankly.

His sense of smell, however, seemed to still be working fine. Catching an aroma of something behind him, Heiji turned his head, straining his neck a little to look without having to get up just yet. It would appear that his captors must have had some intention of keeping him alive- because they had left food for him. Well, there was a chance that it might be poisoned, but given the circumstances, he didn't think so.

Drugged, maybe. But considering the fact that they probably wanted to hand him over to Kawaguchi Souma in as good condition as possible, that probably wasn't the case either.

Gritting his teeth, Heiji forced himself into a sitting position, swinging his feet off the bed. The noise doing so made was rather loud- and that was something he would have to factor in as well. As he thought, he could make out the faint sound of someone moving outside the door, so there was definitely someone out there watching him.

Well, if they were going to feed him, he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Just because he couldn't taste it anymore, didn't mean he didn't _need_ it- and there was only so much one could do on an empty stomach.

Well, at the very least, he'd have less to gripe about. Takoyaki, after all, was best eaten while still piping hot- and this stuff had already gone stone cold.

Well, whatever. With a full stomach, and some good rest behind him, he'd set himself to figuring out how to get out of this situation. If there was one thing he was good at, it was giving people cause to regret underestimating him.


	16. Flight

**AN** : Here I am, back with the next chapter! It's June, so we're pretty much in summer, aren't we? I hope everyone is having a nice one! As always, I thank you for reading, and especially thank those of you who have left reviews in the past. Please continue to do so, if you can!

Until next time!

* * *

 **Collapse**

 **Chapter Sixteen**

 **Flight**

* * *

He must have bit his lip too hard, the faint sensation of blood trickling down his chin making him lose focus for a moment. Licking his lips, Heiji drew in a long breath, trying to steady himself once more, for this, the final stretch. As he thought, though he had lost weight and muscle tone alike, it wasn't nearly enough to make this easy- his hand was already red and chaffed from the way the handcuff rubbed against it.

It would need medical treatment, but that was really the least of his worries right now. If he missed this chance, he might not get another one.

It might very well be a trap. But even if it was a trap, if he wanted to get away from here, he didn't really think that he had much of a choice but to fall into it. Perhaps with any luck, he'd be able to overcome it, were it one- though that was a stretch. His luck had never been very good, and lately, it felt as if it had only gotten worse.

Still, what luck couldn't do, maybe pure stubbornness could make up for. Grunting a little, he bit back a yelp as he finally slipped free, all but slamming his head against the back railing of the bed. For a moment, he couldn't think of anything other than the pain, only registering the loud noise that he had made once it started to fade.

Thankfully, there was no one to hear it.

The person watching him- probably that Amuro guy- had slipped out. He didn't know why he had left, nor when he was coming back, but if he had even the smallest of chances to get away, he had already decided that he was going to take it. Even if he were caught, it wasn't like they would kill him- he was too valuable to them right now.

Drugged, maybe, which would be a problem. If that were the case, the only hope he would have then would be Kudo, and while he had faith in his friend, it never hurt to stack the deck a little.

Taking a moment to catch his breath, Heiji rubbed his newly freed wrist. It was bleeding in places, but if he'd broken anything, he hadn't noticed, so he considered himself lucky. If he hadn't lost weight like he had, he probably wouldn't have been able to pull it off in the first place, so in a way, he supposed he should be grateful.

Of course, the weight loss was merely a symptom of what had got him into this situation in the first place- without that, today would be just like any other...

Crap, what day was it, anyways? He didn't think more than a day had passed since he had been kidnapped, if that, but he hadn't really been paying much attention to the passage of time while he was in the hospital. He had lost track of it somewhere along the way, and never really felt the urge to catch back up with the calendar.

Serum or not, he still basically had a death sentence lingering over his head. With that in mind, it had always been rather hard to bring himself to look.

One that was only going to catch up with him, if he wasted any more time here. Really, he'd like to rest some more- trying to free himself had taken far more out of him than he was willing to admit, but he just didn't have the time for that. Taking great pains to push himself to his feet, using the rickety bed to prop himself up, Heiji waited until he was stable, before he began to check out his surroundings.

He seriously doubted that they had left the door unlocked. They probably hadn't underestimated him to that extent. A quick jiggle of the handle proved that to be true, to which he could only sigh. He'd managed to free himself from the handcuff, but if he couldn't get of the room he was trapped it, it was basically pointless.

The window wasn't an option, he knew that much already. Leaning against the door, Heiji took in the layout of the room, wondering if there was anything else he could do. In his current condition, there was no way he could do something like break down the door, no matter how rickety it was.

And after that, he'd have to figure out where he was, and how to call for help... but one thing at a time, he decided. First things first- finding a way to get out of this room. Maybe there was something around that he could pick the lock with...

The takoyaki skewers, made of wood, probably wouldn't cut it. If they snapped off in the lock, it would be game over. There must be something else, something else in this dump that he could use... _ah_!

It had been awhile since he'd let that triumphant grin of his cross his lips, but he had cause for it now. Maybe it was just part of the trap, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the map- especially as he confirmed that his suspicions were correct, and the object that he had caught glinting as the headlights of another car passed was a hair pin after all. Carefully plucking it from where it had been abandoned, in the cracks of the floorboards, Heiji nodded to himself.

One way or another, he was getting himself out of here.

Kudo might have been looking for him, this Kawaguchi Souma person, but he didn't have to be told to know that it would be a bad thing if he caught him. He might have come into his world as a lab rat, but he had no intention of going back to being one. He'd show that bastard that he was way more than just a mere copy of him- and that even a flawed prototype had it's merits.

Maybe if he said that enough, he'd start to believe it.

Using the passing lights from the cars, Heiji found the lock, carefully inserting the hair pin into it. Straightening it so that he could use it had been a challenge- as he thought, with the loss of his muscle tone, he'd lost a lot of the strength he had once had. Just building it up again would be a chore, but he'd rather have the chance to do so than not.

Squinting in the darkness, always keeping one ear out for any sign of his watcher coming back, Heiji carefully picked the lock. The moment that he felt it finally give way, making a sound that was almost music to his ears, he felt as if a weight had fallen from his shoulders. That was one step out of the way- now it was time to move on to the next.

Of course, this would all be for naught if that Amuro bastard was standing right outside the front door, but he'd rather try and fail than just simply accept his fate. That was another thing he didn't have to be told- that if he was caught, that if their transfer succeeded, he would likely be facing a fate far worse than what he already was.

Which, when one considered the fate he was _already_ set to suffer, was saying something.

Drawing in as much of a deep breath as he could manage, Heiji steadied himself. Pocketing the hair pin in the off chance that he might need it later, he cracked the door open, carefully glancing out into the room before him. It would appear that his earlier assessment had been spot on- the place really did look to be some kind of ramshackle apartment, one that probably hadn't been used in years.

And it was empty, too.

Stepping out into the living room, Heiji cast his attention towards the front door. The walls of the place were thin- if that Amuro guy was waiting outside, he would probably be able to hear him. Since he couldn't...

Well, it didn't meant that he was home free, but if they were going to offer him up this chance, even as a trap, then he would make them regret doing so.

Placing one hand against the wall to keep himself steady, Heiji made his way towards the front door. Hovering just outside of it, he strained his ears once more, trying to pick up on any noise. Not hearing anything, other than the noise of the cars passing by, he drew in and let out another breath, resolving himself to just go for it.

Maybe he'd gone to pick up that Kawaguchi asshole. If that was the case, he had no intention of being here when they got back. Embarrassing the Organization seemed like a small, petty victory, but honestly? He'd take it.

Stepping out into the slightly humid night air, Heiji couldn't help but grin. To be honest, he already felt like he was ready to pass out, and kind of almost wanted to vomit, but since he'd gotten this far, he wasn't about to just give up because of something small like that.

There was no way in hell that Hattori Heiji was going down that easily.

* * *

She might have said that she was going to do what she could, but when it came down to it, she realized that she had no idea where to even begin.

She had considered going to the place that started it all at first, before she quickly realized that the odds of any involved parties showing up there was rather low. According to Ran, the place was crawling with reporters, even now. It didn't seem likely that anyone involved would take the risk of showing up there, not when they might end up caught on camera.

For the moment, she was acting underneath the impression that Kawaguchi Souma was actually alive. Ran had told her just a little about what it was that Shinichi had been doing lately- namely, that he had been looking for him. And if someone of Kudo Shinichi's reputation had been searching for him, then odds were, he was probably still alive. With the kind of coverage the story was getting, it probably wouldn't be long before it caught his attention.

And then what? Then what would he do?

For goodness... this whole thing would be far easier to solve were Heiji not missing. Auntie Shizuka was probably right- there probably was something else going on here, underneath the surface. His father might have tried to downplay his disappearance, and while she didn't doubt that he'd left of his own will, the real question was what had happened to him after that?

She didn't need to question if he'd heard the news yet or not. Chances were, the reason he'd left in the first place was because of that very same news.

Which he had somehow managed to learn even before the article had come out. It felt like if she could solve that mystery, she might be able to unravel where it was that Heiji was right now. She might not be a detective, but for Heiji's sake, she would give it her best shot.

For the moment, she'd returned to Osaka, but as for what she would do next... she still hadn't decided.

Or rather... truth be told, she did have one idea, but she wasn't sure it would pan out, or even if it would do her any good should it. Without a doubt, somewhere within Osaka's police headquarters, was information in regards to Heiji's case, but while she might be the daughter of division one's head of investigations, somehow she doubted that they'd just show it to her just because she asked.

If she asked her father... maybe.

Come to think of it... her father had known all this time, hadn't he? Of course, so had Heiji's father. It wasn't as if this were new information to her, but every time she thought on it, she couldn't help but feel a little upset. If they had just spoken up about it at any time, maybe this whole thing could have been avoided.

Even she knew that was absurd. They probably had no way of knowing it would turn out like this- with all the research data burned, there was nothing to tell them that Heiji's body would one day begin to break down. With that in mind, wasn't it better to let him live as a normal human?

"He _is_ a normal human though." Kazuha muttered, mostly to herself. "What makes that idiot weird has nothin' ta do with how he was born."

That was the truth- but it was also the truth that it was likely that both her father and Heiji's had already scoured the very same files that she wanted to see for herself. If that was the case, then the odds that she might discover something in them that they hadn't were frankly, rather low. Maybe Heiji would be able to find something, but Heiji wasn't here right now.

So in his absence, she had to do her best!

Still... she could only hope that he wouldn't be absent for much longer. The longer it stretched out, the more she worried about him. He had taken his charm with him, so she wanted to believe that he would be alright, but...

Placing a hand on her own, which she had looped around her neck like a necklace, Kazuha drew in a long breath. If there really were any power in this charm of hers, she could really use some of it right now.

* * *

In truth, he couldn't claim that this development surprised him in the least.

He had been suspecting that there had been something strange about Vermouth's actions, right from the start. If he were going to make a guess, he would have to say that it was most likely tied to the slightly strange way she had acted back when he had her pose as Azusa, in their failed attempt to gather more information about Asaka. Whatever the cause, if she had something to do with this, he wouldn't be surprised.

Probably in an effort to buy himself some extra time, he'd closed both the front door and the door to the room in which he was being kept, locking the latter of them. He had thought it was unusually quiet in there, for a moment, wondering if he had simply fallen asleep again, something which quickly proved itself to be false.

The room was empty, only a single handcuff still chained to the bed left behind.

Heaving a long sigh, Amuro turned on his heel, checking his watch. He had to admit, he was pretty impressed- in the time it had taken him to go the bathroom, he'd managed to escape. It appeared that the one that Edogawa Conan thought of as a close friend was nothing to be sneezed at.

Still, he couldn't have gone far, not in that state. Even this late at night, someone in his condition would likely stand out in the memory of anyone who saw him, so tracking him down wouldn't be all that difficult. He would have to do it fast, though- for a variety of reasons, this trade off needed to be successful.

If Kawaguchi Souma joined the Organization, then he would be able to gather proof of his research at the same time. Killing two birds with one stone, though in this case, he supposed that someone probably would literally have to die in order for him to obtain the results that he wanted. Considering he was destined to do so anyways, in all honesty, it didn't make much of a difference.

It wasn't as if he didn't feel at least a little bad for him- but since he was going to die anyways, his death might as well have some kind of meaning. Dying to help bring down the one who had created him in the first place would at the very least, give his brief life some form of meaning- though he imagined that the person himself didn't agree with that. His desperate desire to cling to life was admirable, in a sense, but in the end, it was largely meaningless. Even if they could delay the inevitable, it was called the inevitable for a reason.

There was no fixing a body that was fundamentally flawed.

Since Vermouth had left to make contact with him, he probably had roughly around an hour to track down the missing high school detective. It would be more than enough time.

Even if he managed to get into contact with someone during that time, it would just be a simple matter of transferring locations. In the event that something like that might happen, he'd already prepared another place. Even if that woman did have something to do with this flight, however minor, since the orders were from higher up, he doubted that she would go against them to that extent.

For Edogawa Conan himself, perhaps. But for someone who just one of his friends? He doubted it.

* * *

"Conan-kun?"

"K-Kazuha-neechan? What are doing here?"

Ordinarily, finding Toyama Kazuha in Osaka was hardly strange- but today, however, was different. The last he'd heard of her, Ran had told him that she was speaking with Heiji's mother, who he knew for a fact was back in Tokyo, same as she was supposed to be. So to come across her here, now... well, it was more than a little bit of a problem, to say the least.

"That should be my question!" Placing her hands on her hips, Kazuha narrowed her eyes, glancing around as if she were searching for someone. "Don't tell me that Kudo-kun is usin' ya as an assistant or somethin' like that."

Well, that answered his question of exactly how much she knew at this point, Conan thought dimly to himself. Nervously shifting on his feet, he glanced behind him, only letting out the breath he'd been holding when it became apparent that nobody had noticed them. Wondering if there were perhaps a way to chase Kazuha off, and concluding that there was almost none, he let out a long sigh.

At least he'd left Ai and the Professor back in the Beetle for the moment, though they had doubtlessly already taken notice of Kazuha from where they were watching him. He could already picture the kind of expression that was probably on Ai's face... if he wasn't careful, there were any number of things he could blow here, after all.

"Just come here, Kazuha-neechan." Putting aside what she might think for now, Conan reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her closer towards him. Though he didn't really have the strength to actually do so, Kazuha seemed to oblige him, very thankfully crouching down to speak with him further.

"What is it, Conan-kun? Ya've got such a serious look on yer face." Kazuha said, frowning a little. Peering out from behind him for a moment, she could only frown deeper as he very quickly stepped back into her line of vision. "Is somethin' wrong?"

"Don't tell me Kudo-kun really is usin' ya?" Kazuha asked again, a look of annoyance spreading across her face. "I'm grateful that he's tryin' ta look fer a way ta help Heiji, but..."

"That's right!" Deciding to go along with that for the moment, keeping a vague eye out on the pair that he had been watching before she'd shown up, Conan nodded his head. "Shinichi-niichan asked me to help look for some people, and I found them for him!"

"So what? Are ya keepin' yer eyes on them until he shows up?" Kazuha asked, once more trying to peer over Conan's head, only to find the child shoving himself in the way again. Was there something that he didn't want her to see?

"I don't think he'll be able to show up." Conan told her, shaking his head, almost flinching at how quickly her expression soured. It would be touching, were it not for the fact that the one she was angry at was also himself. "He's too far away to come here in any hurry right now."

"So? Who is it that yer supposed ta be watchin' fer Mister _Heisei Holmes_?" Kazuha asked, not even bothering to mask her dry tone. Honestly, asking a child to do something like this! She knew that Heiji often used Conan as his assistant as well, but at least he was usually around to more or less keep an eye on him!

"Ah, well that's..." Trailing off a little, Conan resisted the urge to glance behind him once more, knowing that would be enough for Kazuha to determine exactly who it was he had been watching. Of course, the moment she actually looked in that direction, she'd be able to figure it out.

Even from behind, and even with a gap of several decades, the resemblance was staggering. That was perhaps expected, especially since he had already seen photographs of him before, but seeing it in person was quite another thing entirely.

And as for the person with him... she might have disguised herself, so as to not draw attention, but there was no mistaking the fact that that was Vermouth. If she was here, then if he played his cards right, she might just end up leading them straight to Heiji. With Ai still in the car, it was something that he was apprehensive about, but she had promised that she would give up on her.

It was more _Amuro_ he was worried about there, really. For so long as he thought Sherry was dead, so too would the Organization. Still, as long as she stayed hidden, it would probably be fine.

Still, with Kazuha here... things had only grown more complicated. If she barged in there to save Heiji and saw their faces, that would only paint a target on her back, one that he knew Heiji would never forgive him for. Even _if_ he forgave him for concealing the truth from him, that was one thing that he would never forgive.

What should he do... if he asked her to do something, she would probably do it. The only problem was that he couldn't currently think of anything to ask her to do that would involve sending her away from here. The first thing that came to mind was using her connections to her father to ask her to go get the records from them, but if she brought up Kudo Shinichi's name, she would learn that he had _already_ seen the records, exposing his suggestion as an obvious method of trying to get her away.

She wasn't an idiot either, if he spent too much time dancing around the topic, she would realize without fail who he was following. Think, think, there must be _something_ , something that he could-!

"Ah, don't tell me that's-!"

Crap.

Now he _definitely_ wasn't going to be able to get her away from here.

* * *

As he thought, there weren't many people out on the streets at this time of night. Granted, he had no idea as to exactly what time it was, but the absence of other people was indicative enough of the fact that it was rather late. From what few people were on the streets, he was able to gather that his earlier theory had been correct- he wouldn't be coming across this many people speaking in the Kansai dialect were they not still somewhere within the Kansai region.

That said, he didn't recognize his surroundings at all. Pausing for a moment to catch his breath, propping himself up on a lamppost, Heiji tried to steady his blurring vision. It hadn't even been half a day since he had been captured, but his condition had already deteriorated to this point... how pitiful.

Had he escaped during daylight hours, he probably would have very quickly drawn attention to himself, by mere virtue of being so sickly. That wasn't necessarily a good thing- if he were to pass out, he'd have no control over who it was that would come to claim him. The same was true even now- which was why, no matter how much he wanted to, he had to force himself to stay awake and on his feet until he could at least get a message out.

Thankfully, it would seem that fortune was on his side, for once.

Lingering for only a moment longer, Heiji drew in a long breath, pushing himself back up again. He'd probably leave quite the impression on whatever poor soul was on shift, but he doubted that someone working the late night shift at a twenty-four hour convenience store would regard him as any stranger than anything else they had seen.

With any luck, he'd be able to borrow a phone, and get word out. Even if he didn't know where he was, Kudo would probably be able to track him down by the phone number alone, narrowing down where he might be. Even if they did have some kind of alternate location prepared, it probably wouldn't be far from here.

Catching a glimpse of his reflection in the window as he readied himself to enter, Heiji had to grimace. He didn't just look like a wreck- but he felt like one too. Thankfully, he hadn't lost nearly enough weight for it to show in his cheeks yet, but he barely recognized the sickly looking visage that was reflected back at him.

Well, whatever.

"Excuse me!" Calling out as he entered the store, Heiji forced a grin onto his face, forcing himself to stand up straight, to act like he didn't feel as if he was on the verge of collapse. It must have worked, because the store clerk only blinked at him a little, rather than having any kind of large reaction. "If it's not a problem, can I borrow yer phone? Mine ran out of battery in the middle of an important call, so..."

"That's fine, sir." More than willing to oblige, the store clerk reached down underneath the desk, setting out a phone on the counter. "Just please make sure to stand aside if a customer comes."

"Will do. Thanks." Making his way over to the counter without any kind of aide was pitifully hard- but he managed. Resting one hand on the counter, mostly to keep himself standing, Heiji picked up the phone, fighting back a grimace at just how hard it was to keep it in his hand. "I'll leave once I've finished my call."

Now then, all he had to do was punch in Kudo's number, and...

... _huh_?

That was weird. What was Kudo's number again? He was certain that he had it memorized, and yet...

He didn't remember it at all. Hands hovering over the keypad for a long moment, Heiji racked his brain, wondering if this was merely the result of losing the tension that he'd been holding onto before he got here. There was no way he would have just _forgotten_ Kudo's number, unless...

Since he had been able to hold conversations and make deductions, not to mention carry out basic human functions, he'd been under the impression that the deterioration that his body was experiencing had not yet reached his brain. But if he couldn't remember something as simple as his best friend's phone number... didn't that mean it actually already had?

It was a horrifying revelation, but not one that he could afford to waste any time on. Swallowing back the darkness, Heiji drew in a long breath, trying to think of any other phone numbers that he might still actually remember. The first section of his home phone number floated to mind, but it was missing the last few digits. His mother's cellphone and his father's number were very much the same, each missing important patches, leaving them incomplete.

Otaki's number he couldn't remember at all, and even Ran's was...

That's right. Kazuha. He still remembered Kazuha's number! Perking up right away at this realization, Heiji wasted no time in putting in the number. She would probably be super angry at him for leaving the hospital, but at the very least, she'd be able to pass on a message to Kudo for him.

Hopefully it would be enough. He didn't know how much stamina he had left in him, frankly. Maybe just enough so that he wouldn't collapse in a heap in front of the convenience store, but rather, a bit to the left.

"Hello?"

He didn't know if it was just because of his own relief to hear it, or if it had just always been that pretty- but right now, Kazuha's voice sounded almost like an angel's. Turning on his heel and leaning back against the counter, Heiji let out a long breath, allowing himself to finally relax, at least for a moment.

"Kazuha? It's me."

* * *

A phone call, at this timing? Perhaps there really was such a thing as a divine power watching over them. Maybe now he would be able to have a bit of breathing room to figure out what it was that he was going to do about this development.

Or, that was the plan, at least.

What he hadn't expected was for Kazuha to jolt to her feet, nearly giving him a small heart attack in doing so. Just as he was about to open his mouth to tell her to get down again, she spoke herself.

" _Heiji!?_ "

Needless to say, that caught his attention right away. Conan's eyes going wide, he paused for only a moment longer, glancing back behind him again to confirm that both Kawaguchi and Vermouth were still there. Opening his mouth to speak, Kazuha caught him doing so out of the corner of her eye, placing a finger against her lips in a way that made it rather hard to argue with her.

How was it that Heiji was calling her? Had he managed to escape somehow? And if that was the case, why wasn't he the one he was calling? It wasn't as if he didn't know his number, or anything like that.

At the very least, Kazuha seemed to sense that Conan wanted to hear, and crouched back down next to him, turning up the volume on her cellphone enough so that he could hear. The voice on the other end of the line, was without a doubt, that of Heiji's. Since Vermouth was here, it was a pretty safe bet that the person on the other end of the line was really him- though Amuro had disguised himself once or twice, he wasn't particularly good at it, not without Vermouth's guidance.

"Don't sound so surprised, Kazuha." From the sound of his voice alone, the way his breath caught in his throat at times, it was obvious that his condition wasn't good. "An' before ya start yellin' at me about it, I'm sorry about wanderin' away like that. I just had somethin' that I needed ta do."

"Somethin' that ya needed ta do?" Kazuha asked, a rather sour tone to her voice, one that she forced back. Something in his tone told her this was urgent, for the time being, she'd let it slide. "Have ya seen the news by any chance, Heiji?"

"The news? No, I haven't. What about it?"

"Well, if ya haven't yet, then nevermind." Kazuha said, heaving a long sigh. "Anyways, where are ya right now, Heiji? If ya need someone ta come get ya, I can call Otaki-han an'-"

"Ah, ya see, that's kinda the thing. I don't really know where I am right now."

So it really was just as he thought. Narrowing his eyes, Conan ignored Kazuha's protests as he snatched the cellphone from her. If things kept up like this, he might wind up saying something that he couldn't take back to her. "What do you mean, you don't know where you are, Heiji-niichan?"

"Eh? Kudo? What are ya doin' with Kazuha?"

"She's the one who found _me_ , for the record." Conan told him, grateful that she hadn't heard that slip. "More importantly, what happened to you? I have a pretty good idea already, but..."

"Well, if ya know that much already, I'll skip right ta the chase. Right now, I'm borrowin' a phone from a convenience store near where I found myself, so if ya use it's number as a frame of reference, ya might be able ta figure out where I am. I'm obviously still somewhere in the Kansai region, probably still somewhere Osaka, but as fer the rest... I have no idea."

"Did you try asking the clerk?" Conan asked dryly.

Judging from the grumble that he could make out on the other end of the line, he obviously hadn't. "...I'll ask the clerk. Just give me a second, Kudo."

Letting out a sigh, Conan glanced over towards Kazuha, only to find her glaring at him. Giving her a slightly nervous smile, he felt himself almost instinctively shuffling away from her- honestly, that Hattori, why was it that he had called her over him? Was he still mad at him?

Well, he wouldn't blame him, but it wasn't as if he _sounded_ angry. If anything, he sounded...

...wait a second. What had that noise been? If he didn't know any better, it sounded like something clattering against the floor. For a brief moment, his thoughts surged backwards, replaying the image of Heiji collapsing before him in front of his eyes once more. He couldn't have possibly...?

"Oi, Hattori!" In other circumstances, he would have paid more care to avoid that name slipping out of him when Kazuha was around, but that sort of caution was alluding him right now. "Hattori, are you okay?! _Hattori!?_ "

When the line went dead, the only thing left in his heart was the cold grip of fear.

* * *

"I'm quite sorry about all this. I hope my younger brother hasn't been causing you any trouble."

With just enough awareness left to hear what was being said, and to recognize the person speaking, Heiji frustratingly found himself only being able to watch events unfold. He had been fully aware that he was only just barely holding it together, but apparently, he had grossly underestimated by just how much.

Though in truth, he'd be lying if he tried to claim that he hadn't anticipated this turn of events. He might have escaped that place, but he had the feeling that actually getting away from them was going to be next to impossible, in his current state. At the very least, he had gotten word out to Kudo- hopefully it would be enough.

Frankly, it was a miracle that he hadn't completely passed out, but even then, it was a struggle to maintain consciousness. Just trying to concentrate on what was being said was taking everything he had left in him. He got the feeling that he'd hit his head pretty hard on the way down, though he wasn't even aware enough to feel that pain that it brought him right now.

"Younger brother...?" For their own sake, Heiji could only hope that the store clerk didn't question Amuro's words too much. From what little he knew of _them_ , it wasn't a scenario that would end well.

"Yes, that's correct." With that plastic smile of his plastered on his face, Amuro crouched down in front of the collapsed teenager. If there was one thing that surprised him, it was the fact that he hadn't actually passed out yet- though it didn't appear that he had the strength to resist him, much less protest.

That made things easier.

"He has a medical condition, I'm afraid." Lies flowing freely from his lips, Amuro hauled Heiji to his feet, making a show of supporting him. He was no legendary Hollywood actor, but he'd do in a pinch. "He passes out from time to time, and he tends to be rather disoriented when he wakes up. Really, he shouldn't be out on his own, but when we looked away earlier today, well..."

Like _hell_ he did, Heiji wanted to protest, but found that he couldn't even so much manage a glare right now. Honestly, the more he saw of this guy, the less he liked him. The fact that he was trying to pose as his older brother only made his blood boil- he'd rather stick with being related to a mad scientist than to this guy.

"Ah, I see. Do you need me to call for...?"

"No, that won't be needed." Amuro told him, shaking his head. "My car is right outside, so I'll take him straight home. All he really needs is proper rest, and he'll start to feel better. But I thank you for your concern."

This guy lied so easily, it was more than enough to make his skin crawl. Even as his head swam, darkness threatening to close in on him once more, he could only find himself thinking one thing.

That he'd _really_ like to have the chance to wipe that shady smile of his off his face.


	17. Survival Rate

**AN** : The next chapter is here! At first I thought I would end this chapter with the meeting between Kawaguchi and Heiji, such as it were, but in the end I felt it would be better to begin the next chapter with that. So look forward to that when that comes!

Also to the guest reviewer who took issue with my characterization of Amuro, while I'm glad that you like the fic, I would like to point out that he's _absolutely_ an 'ends justify the means' type of person. He was willing to hit a completely innocent woman with his car, which most likely would have been his original plan, as Conan said, if Jodie's friend hadn't been attacked, and we've seen that he's also willing to let an injured woman lie without providing her with any treatment- while he did call an ambulance, it was quite clear that he didn't care if she lived or died, just so long as he managed to get a tiny piece of information. I wouldn't exactly call that a good person. He has two main goals- to kill Akai, and bring down the Organization, and if he thinks something will advance him further into the Organization to the point where he can get information more easily, he wouldn't miss that chance.

With that said, I hope explains why he acts the way he does within the fic! I kind of wished you hadn't left your review as a guest one so I could have said it directly to you, this is the next best thing I guess. Until next time!

* * *

 **Collapse**

 **Chapter Seventeen**

 **Survival Rate**

* * *

"What's wrong, Conan-kun? _Conan-kun!_ "

It was the sound of Kazuha's voice that snapped him back to reality. The rather firm grip that she had on his shoulders didn't hurt either.

"Ah... we got disconnected, it looks like." Conan told her, giving her something of a sheepish smile. He had a fairly good idea as to what had happened, and it was more than more than enough to make panic surge in his chest. "But don't worry, Kazuha-neechan! See, we have the phone number of the store that he called from, so if we use that-!"

"Don't give me that." Kneeling down so that she could be on his level, Kazuha leveled a gaze with him that was enough to send shivers down his spine. "That didn't sound at all like ya just got _disconnected_. Yer keepin' somethin' from me, aren't ya, Conan-kun?"

"Ah, well..." Trailing off a little, Conan edged backwards a bit. He knew that she was worried about Heiji, and that she had every right to be, and also that she wanted to do something to help, but... if he got her involved any further than this, it might put her in danger. "That's..."

"Tell me the truth." Kazuha insisted. "Was it Kudo-kun? Did Kudo-kun tell ya ta keep it from me? From the sound of it, it doesn't look like ya knew where Heiji was either, so it can't be him."

"Ah, that's..." Trailing off again, Conan let out a long sigh. If he didn't take control of this situation soon, then there was a chance that Kazuha might just take matters into her own hands, without properly understanding the situation. She could be just as hotblooded as her childhood friend, after all. To that end, if he could just think of a plausible sounding lie that impressed the danger of the situation onto her, if not the _exact truth_ , perhaps he'd be able to make things work.

And the faster they got done here, the faster that he could track that phone number. Casting a glance towards the restaurant, he noticed with a slight sigh of relief that they hadn't left yet, Conan resolved himself to do just that.

"You're right! You're right, Kazuha-neechan!" Conan said, slipping into his best impression of a normal child. "Isn't that mean? Even though I told him that it would be best to share it with everyone else, he told me to keep it all a secret!"

"I thought so. That guy's full of them." Kazuha said, letting out a rather curt sounding sigh. "So? What is it that Kudo-kun knows? Other than the _obvious_."

"Actually, the reason Heiji-niichan left the hospital in the first place might be my fault." Conan confessed, doing his best to look properly guilty- not that it was hard, considering that he couldn't entirely claim that he didn't bear some blame for the current situation. "Shinichi-niichan has a friend who works for the police, that he asked to help him with his search, but it seems like when I was talking to him about it, Heiji-niichan overheard."

Though at this point, he was loathe to call Amuro a _friend_ \- but at the very least, it would keep Kazuha from prying too deeply, and give him an excuse not to reveal his identity.

"Overheard?" Kazuha asked, a look of realization dawning on her. She had already heard from Ran that Shinichi had known everything even before the story had broke on the news, but this was probably the closest that she would get to hearing it straight from the horse's mouth. "Ya mean about... ya know, that... that _clone_ stuff?"

"It's related to that, yeah." Conan said, nodding his head, his expression growing a bit more serious. "Actually, it seems that Kawaguchi-san had already caught wind of Heiji-niichan's existence at that point, so he had asked that friend of his if he could arrange something to help keep watch on him so nothing bad happened, but I guess Heiji-niichan overheard."

Thank goodness, she seemed to believe him so far.

"Then, it's because of that he left the hospital?" Kazuha asked, her brows knitting together in thought. "But even if he's Heiji, I don't think that he would just _leave_ like that, no matter how upset he was. He must have had some kind of goal in mind."

"We think he went there." Conan told her, this time truthfully. "To that lab. Or what's left of it, at any rate. He probably wanted to see it for himself."

"That _does_ sound like somethin' Heiji would do." Kazuha observed. She got the feeling that there was something being avoided here, but she couldn't quite put her finger on just what. "But what about after that? Heiji said it himself, that he didn't know where he was right now. Not ta mention, from the way he sounded over the phone..."

He hadn't sounded good. Not at all.

"Actually, we think that Kawaguchi-san might have hired someone to kidnap Heiji-niichan." Conan told her- and sure enough, at his words, she sprung right up to her feet, an expression of both visible shock and panic on her face. Suddenly, she was doubtlessly putting that phone call into an entirely different context than she had before.

"Then, that phone call just then-!"

"Yeah." Conan said, nodding his head. "I think that Heiji-niichan was probably able to escape. Why he called your phone, I don't know, but that's why we should really get that number tracked. From the sound of it, he was borrowing the phone at a convenience store. Since he got cut off, he either collapsed again, or his kidnapper found him."

"Okay, I got it." Kazuha said, taking the phone back from him. As expected, she didn't look thrilled at either of those options- but at the very least, he had seemed to impress upon her that time was of the essence. "Ya just need the number tracked, right? If that's the case, I'm sure my father can do it in a flash!"

That was good, that was just the answer that he wanted. Not only would he get he wanted done, but it would also get Kazuha out of his hair, and more importantly, out of direct danger.

"Then, please do, Kazuha-neechan!" Conan told her. "I'll stay here for a little while longer, in case the person that I'm looking for shows up."

"The person that you're lookin' fer?" Kazuha asked, blinking a little. "I can't believe Kudo-kun is makin' ya do his dirty work. Does he know nothin' about children?"

"It can't be helped! Nobody will pay attention to a kid, so I'm the best person for the job!" Conan almost whined- to be frank, he just wanted to her hurry, as much as she would have had a point were he a real child, and not just Kudo Shinichi himself. "Kazuha-neechan, the phone number, the phone number!"

"Ah, yer right." Kazuha said, blinking a little. She'd lecture Shinichi about this- and many other things- later, the next time she got a chance to see him. "Police headquarters isn't that far from here. I'll go an' fill dad in on the situation, an' get him ta track the number. That way, we can have a police car at the ready."

"Yeah, thank you." Conan said, nodding his head. "Good luck, Kazuha-neechan."

As he watched her figure retreat from the direction that she had come, he let out a long held breath. Turning on his heel, once more confirming that neither Vermouth nor Kawaguchi Souma had left the restaurant, he resumed his watch over them. Perhaps it would be faster to confront them directly- but in the event that he failed to capture him, he didn't want Kawaguchi to see his face.

And if Vermouth really was under the direct orders of someone else in the Organization right now, the odds that she would assist him directly were low- at least not without guarantee that her actions wouldn't be exposed. She probably had something to do with the fact that Heiji had been able to escape, but that was probably as far as her help would be able to go at this point- so right now, watching over them and following them when they left really was the best option.

As long as they found Heiji, and got him back safely into their own custody, then everything else could be worked out after that. Both that, and the capture of Kawaguchi Souma were the main priority here- if he were arrested, even the Organization would likely give up on him, and cut what little ties they had with him in order to protect themselves.

It would give Heiji a safety net- though he didn't know for how long. Still, long enough to think both on how to hide him, and how to help him survive- a feat that would be made far easier with the person who had helped create him in the first place in their hands.

He _definitely_ wasn't going to let him go.

* * *

"I must say, it doesn't look at all as if fifteen years have passed for you."

"You certainly know how to flatter a woman, Kawaguchi-san." Brushing off his comment with a polite smile, Vermouth set her tea cup down. "But I think that we should skip such frivolities, and jump straight into business. I suppose you could say that the offer we've prepared for you this time is a _limited time_ one."

Kawaguchi Souma, she thought, hadn't changed at all. While it was true that she couldn't repay what she knew full well wasn't actually a compliment in turn, aging on the outside seemed to have been the only thing that she had done. She couldn't deny that there had been a few times in her life when she had been genuinely surprised by the actions of others, but all in all, she had become someone who was fairly good at gauging people at a glance- and that was what her years of experience were currently telling her.

His eyes hadn't changed at all. As if they belonged to a dead fish, more than they did a living man.

The fact that he had come here in the first place, she supposed, was proof enough of that.

"To be frank, I must say I'm rather impressed that it managed to last quite this long." Resting his arms on the table, his fingers intertwined, Kawaguchi didn't so much as blink. "By my own projections, I would have expected them to only last around ten years, if that. To survive an extra five years past that, especially as it sounds as if it was living a rather healthy life before this... I must admit, I'm quite eager to see what it is that allowed for that difference."

"I thought you might." Vermouth said simply, pushing anything else aside, and getting straight to business. She had been doing this for too long to flinch when human lives were being discussed- even in such a fashion that seemed to completely disconnect them from being human in the first place. "Of course, you must understand, we don't plan on turning _him_ over to you for free."

At the very least, she had just enough humanity left in her to not do the same in turn.

"Of course." Kawaguchi said simply. "To think that it would have ended up in the hands of the future police chief of this prefecture... it must have cost you a great deal to obtain it."

"Not at all." Vermouth said simply. "He left on his own accord, we merely took advantage of that."

Well, as for whether or not he would actually stay put... that remained to be seen. And even if he didn't manage to get away, she hadn't missed the sight of a silhouette that she had cause to know well hiding himself. To think that he had already managed to track them this far... she wouldn't expect anything less of him.

For the moment, it didn't appear as if he was making a move, simply keeping them under observation. If he was hoping that by doing so, they would lead him back to where they were keeping his friend captive, he was correct- though she had to wonder what his plan was to get him back after that. All the more so because she doubted that he wanted to allow Kawaguchi Souma to fall out of his reach.

Whatever it was, she was looking forward to it.

Well, if push came to shove, she would help him out, just a little. Though he seemed eager to advance with the Organization, given the fact that he hadn't mentioned anything about Conan's past involvements in actions counter to them, she knew that Amuro wouldn't say anything about his presence there, should the deal fail, and the _sample_ be taken away. Kawaguchi, on the other hand...

"I see." Kawaguchi said simply. "In that case, I'm willing to abide by the terms you set down in your phone call."

"I suppose we have assurances that you won't run away as you did before, then." Vermouth simply observed, leaning her chin into her hand. "You made quite the exit last time."

"The circumstances are different now. You have something that I desire." Kawaguchi said simply, his expression barely even changing. As expected from a man who could live with trapping multiple people within a burning building on his conscience, he didn't even blink. She'd lit places aflame herself, but rarely when anyone within them was still _alive_.

The time with that FBI woman had been an exception. If she had known it would have come to haunt her twenty years later, she would have killed her straight out.

Speaking of which though...

"Of course, the Organization is also willing to fund your research, in addition to providing you with a secure space." Vermouth observed. "Since it would seem that your previous means of funding has all but gone up in flames."

"I would most appreciate that. I will admit that it has left me in something of a bind." That he recognized the implications of her words, that much she could tell, but other than that, not even that gleaned much of a reaction from him. As she thought, though they shared the same DNA, the two of them were completely different.

Speaking of that one... it had only been briefly, but she hadn't missed the flash of something orange from where she had determined that boy to be watching them from. A ribbon, perhaps? Come to think of it, when she looked into his background, that childhood friend of his...

Interesting. She couldn't help but wonder what it was that he planned to do about this somewhat unexpected factor as well.

"Very well then." Vermouth said simply, showing no reaction to the events going on just beyond his head either. She didn't want to tip him off to anything. "Before we get into anything further, I just have one question to ask you. Why was it that you ran away from our offer before? Or was there perhaps some other reason you rigged that accident to happen?"

"You could say that." Kawaguchi confessed honestly. "But I would prefer not to go into details. It's a private matter, after all."

"I see." Closing her eyes, Vermouth let out a slight sigh, sensing that was all she would get out of him. This man wasn't the sort you could persuade to talk, she knew that much full well. "That's fine, then. If your main reason to escape wasn't to get away from us, I'm sure even _that person_ would be understanding of it. I'm sure one conducting research such as yours has their own fair share of complications- not to mention enemies."

"Complications... yes." Only giving her a slight nod of his Kawaguchi simply folded his hands in front of him. "That's one way of phrasing it. Now then, with that matter out of the way, I would like to jump straight into discussing the terms of the trade. I would very much like to take it back with me today, seeing as time is rather limited. There's some data that I can only gather while it's still alive, after all."

"Understandable." Vermouth said. "Then I won't waste any more of your time, Kawaguchi-san. Right now, my counterpart is keeping watch over him, and is awaiting our arrival. We can discuss further matters in my car. We already have set up research space for you, though I'm afraid it's a bit bare bones at the moment, given the short notice. Still, I think it should suit your needs."

"And of course," Vermouth added, "...we'll be sure to fund both the equipment and experimental samples alike being transported to the new facility from your previous one. If you hand over the needed information, we can even begin the process right away."

"No, I'll keep that information until I see the sample for myself." Kawaguchi told her, rising to his feet. "Once I've secured it, then I'll provide you with that information. I trust that your organization will be able to move them _safely_ , correct? The younger one I don't care about as much anymore, seeing as I'm not getting paid for it any longer, but I do want to ensure that the older one makes it safely here. It's rather important to me."

"Of course." Vermouth said, giving him a rather plastic smile. "While we don't have experts in your field, we have no shortage of experienced scientists. With your instructions, the move will go over flawlessly, I can assure you."

"In that case, I shall put my trust in your words, Miss Vermouth. Now," coming to a stop just in front of where she sat, there was the faintest tone of impatience to his voice, otherwise breaking the monotone, "...if we could move on from here, I would very much appreciate it."

Merely inclining her head at him, she fell into step just behind him, barely even losing one as she felt her phone vibrate. Sparing it the briefest of glances, she felt a faint smile gracing her lips.

 _Attempted to escape. Made a phone call to someone. Will transport to second location._

So it would seem that Cool Guy's friend hadn't disappointed. It was a shame that he hadn't managed to get away, but in his condition, it was impressive that he had even managed to get that far. Sending a single reply of confirmation, Vermouth tucked her phone back away, all before Kawaguchi could so much as turn back and notice.

No need to tell him about what he didn't need to know.

* * *

They were moving, and that was his cue to do the same.

Considering the fact that they were, in fact, moving, it would seem that Vermouth was still under the impression that she had somewhere to go. Someone had hung up the phone on him after Heiji had presumably collapsed, and the odds that Amuro would have been able to track him down after noticing his escape were fairly high.

The odds that he _wouldn't_ contact Vermouth upon noticing his escape were rather low. Since they were going through the trouble of drawing out a man who had already fled from them once, it was obvious that someone in the Organization wanted to ensure that this deal would happen. If what it was that Kawaguchi Souma wanted wasn't where he was supposed to be, the deal would most likely be off.

"Haibara, Professor, we need to move." Speaking into his Detective Boys badge, grateful that he had the foresight to bring it with him, Conan got to his feet, tracking the pair as they left the restaurant, making note of the car they entered. "They're getting in a gray car right now. A foreign model."

Static crackled on the other end of the badge, before he received a curt reply of okay. Keeping his eyes trained for the rental car that the Professor had gotten, grateful that it was such, Conan wasted no time in getting in it as soon as it pulled up, sliding into the front seat.

"We need to be careful, Professor. If they notice we're following them..."

"I got it, Shinichi. I'll be careful." The old man advised him, briefly sparing a glance back towards Ai. "Are you sure it's alright to bring her with us?"

"It's not like we have much of a choice right now." Ai said, her brows knitting together. "Though I'd rather be as far away as possible from that pair. Kudo-kun here seems to be under the impression that Vermouth actually plans on keeping her promise to him, but I don't know about that."

"Nobody said that you actually had to come out of the car, Haibara." Conan noted, glancing back towards her- though he could understand her apprehension. She had spent the past half year running away from the Organization, so to be in a situation in which she would have to approach it? Of course she wasn't thrilled about that. "Anyways, Professor, let's hurry. We don't want to lose them."

If he had gotten here just a bit earlier, he could have marked which car Vermouth had come in, and could have placed a tracker on it, but unfortunately, he hadn't been that lucky. With a parking lot full of cars, he had no way of knowing which one was hers. For now, they would just have to try their luck at following them directly.

It wasn't Vermouth he was worried about noticing them- it was Kawaguchi. If he started looking a bit suspicious about the car behind them, the odds that Vermouth would take action to lose them were rather high. They couldn't afford that. This was a chance to rescue Heiji and capture Kawaguchi at the same time- and he wasn't about to miss that chance.

Still, even if he did, it wasn't as if they were out of options. There was still the phone that Heiji had managed to make a call from. If they were able to find the convenience store from which it had been made, it would narrow down their search area. Even if Amuro had located him and had taken him away, and even if he had taken him to a new location, he doubted that it would be _that_ far from where he had been originally kept.

It would give them a trail, and hopefully that would be enough. It was his trail that had allowed him to locate Kawaguchi, and had brought him this far. He could only just hope that it would take him all the way.

* * *

"Dad!"

"Kazuha?" Ceasing what he was doing, Toyama Ginshiro couldn't help but be surprised to see his daughter here. The last he had heard, she was still back in Tokyo. "What are you-?"

"Here!" All but thrusting her phone in his face, she took a moment to catch her breath. "I got a call from Heiji, an' I need ya ta track the number."

For a moment, it seemed as if he didn't understand what she was saying- before her father took the phone from her, giving her a rather curt nod. Though he hadn't known from where it was that he had gotten his number, he'd gotten a phone call from that Kudo Shinichi character not that long ago, informing him of the same- that he would be sending someone over with a vital clue to Heiji's whereabouts.

He hadn't mentioned who it was that he was sending- nor any number of other things. He sensed that there was much being left out, but from the urgency in the young man's voice, he also likewise sensed that perhaps this was not the best time to pry. He'd already passed such information on to Heizo- whose actions were currently limited due to the media security. Even with the press conference over and done with, it was clear that his actions were closely being monitored.

They had kept the fact that Heiji had vanished from the hospital under wraps for the moment, but if they weren't careful, it would come to light. And if it did, he knew that Heizo feared that with it would come a new surge of rumors- exactly the kind he had just tried to dispel.

"Then I'll process this right away, Kazuha. Are you certain it was Heiji?" Ginshiro asked, a rather serious expression on his face.

"Of course it was Heiji!" Kazuha almost huffed, placing her hands on her hips. "I grew up with him ya know, there's no way I would mistake him fer anyone else!"

"I see. Of course not." Ginshiro said, merely giving his daughter a smile. "But I'm surprised to see you in Osaka, Kazuha. I thought for sure you were still with Shizuka-san."

"No." Kazuha said, shaking her head. In truth, there were a million questions that she wanted to ask her father- about what he knew, and if he ever planned on telling her. But now wasn't the time for that. "It didn't feel right, just sittin' around an' doin' nothin'. So I came back ta see if there was anythin' I could do ta help, what with Heiji missin' an' all."

"He's in a dangerous situation right now, isn't he?" Ginshiro asked, sensing that much from the tone of her voice and the way her fists grew tighter as she spoke. "Don't worry, Kazuha. I'm sure we'll find him and bring him home."

"Ya'd better." Kazuha said, locking eyes with her father. "I need ta properly chew that idiot out about leavin' the hospital when he's still sick, after all. If he's not around, I can't do that."

"I suppose you can't." Ginshiro observed, briefly giving his daughter a pat on the head. "Then, I'll arrange things on my end. I don't know quite what's going on, but from the sound of it, we'll probably be needing a police car, won't we?"

"Yeah." Kazuha said, nodding her head. "Thanks, dad."

"You don't have to thank me." Ginshiro noted, a trace of a sly grin emerging on his face. "After all, that boy's going to be a real part of our family one day, so I'd rather not see him be in danger."

Kazuha's bright red face was enough of a reply for him.

* * *

Even in his barely conscious state, he could still tell that this wasn't the same place that he had run away from. Unlike the other, this building was only one story- and it's windows had been barred. With it's oppressive gray exterior, he couldn't shake the impression that it felt more like a proper prison-

-and also much more like a tomb.

Under ordinary circumstances, he'd fight back, but right now, he didn't have the strength to do so. He thought that he might regain some while in the car, but the drive had been short, and the last leg of it had been bumpy- they must have gone onto an unpaved road. Certainly, compared to the previous place, this one really did seem to be in the middle of nowhere, making him wonder why they hadn't picked it from the start.

Maybe they just didn't want to risk losing him in the woods. If he collapsed somewhere here, it was possible he wouldn't be found for days- and by then, it probably wouldn't only be hunger that would have pushed him over the edge. Frankly, he wasn't fond of the idea either, even if he did have the strength to move.

Which he didn't, frustratingly enough. Even as he was all but swung over the shoulder of this smug jerk, he could barely put up a fight- he'd never felt more useless!

"I imagine that you can still hear me, Hattori-kun." Amuro finally spoke up, breaking the silence that had settled over them ever since he'd all but thrown him into the backseat of his car. "We can't have you running away on us. I hope you'll stay put this time, though it doesn't seem as if you have much of that fire from earlier left in you."

"Go ta hell." His voice came out raspy and raw, as if he hadn't used it for days, as opposed to a few minutes, but he managed to speak anyways. While it might have not been enough to give him the strength to move, at the very least, his temporary rest seemed to have done him some good. "Who wants ta be yer little brother, asshole?"

"You're rather chatty for someone who should have passed out long ago." Reaching into his back pocket, Amuro unlocked the door to the building- which Heiji quickly realized was nothing more than one large room on the inside. Normally he would try and attempt to figure out what it might have been in the past, when it was in proper use, but at the moment, he was having enough trouble just keeping his thoughts straight.

Sleep pulled at him, beckoning him with every passing minute. But he knew that if he allowed himself to fall asleep now, he might not wake up when he needed to. Even if his body wasn't responding the way he wanted it to, he at the very least needed his wits about him- while he still had them, that was.

The revelation that his memories had been slipping from him, unnoticed, was horrifying. The only reason that he hadn't yet let it get to him was simply because the prospect of ending up back in the hands of the one who had made him in the first place was that much more terrifying. To return to being a lab rat... more than anything, that was what he didn't want.

Even suffering for a month, and finally succumbing to death, would still be better than that. At least he would have lived it underneath his own terms.

"Not gonna shut me up _that_ easily." Heiji muttered, dimly aware that his speech was a bit slurred. It wasn't as if his condition had suddenly worsened, it was just because he was resisting what he needed- rest. He pushed that aside however, forcing the words to come out, as best he could manage. "That bastard's comin', isn't he?"

"He is." Seeing no reason to lie to him on that point, Amuro said it straight out. If he took any care in lowering his burden, it was only because he didn't want to risk damaging him further. "Looks like your friends aren't."

"They'll find me." It was hard to even meet his eyes, with the world dancing the way it was, but he managed- or at least, he hoped that he did. "Ya know 'em well enough ta know they will, from the sound of it."

"I do." Not seeing any point to lying about that either, Amuro answered him rather flatly. "But even if they trace your call, there's still plenty of area for them to search. The odds of them finding us before you're handed over to Kawaguchi-san are low."

Opening his mouth to protest that fact, Heiji instead found his voice catching in his throat- he must have talked too much already. Drawing in a rather ragged breath, he closed his eyes, only for a moment, not wanting to risk falling asleep. It was true that they were at a disadvantage here, but when it came to pulling off the impossible, there was no one that he had more faith in than Kudo.

But to think that he would end up in this situation again... to think that he would end up being saved by that guy for a _second_ time now. He was going to have to make sure to pay him back for that favor at some point.

Okonomiyaki. He'd treat him to some okonomiyaki. The best place that he knew. Him and that Neechan of his.

He just had to ensure that he survived to do that in the first place.

* * *

When they had disappeared after rounding a bend, Conan felt his heart stop dead in his chest. Once they had left the city proper, and had taken to a far less trafficked road, they had no choice but to fall back even further, to prevent them from noticing that they had been following them. It had been a good strategy- up until the point where they had seemingly vanished.

In the darkness, he almost hadn't noticed the small side road. Given that it wasn't paved, he could hardly even call it a road- and it was also the only place that could have vanished into.

"I'll walk from here, Professor." Conan told him. "If we take your car down this road, it might be too hard to get away quickly, even if they don't notice that you're still behind them. For the moment, find some place where you can pull over and hide. In the event that they come out before us, act like your car has broken down, and hide your face."

"Okay, I got it, Shinichi." Agasa nodded his head, though he didn't miss the way he in part seemed unconvinced about this idea. "Be careful. We don't know if it's just those two alone or not."

"I will." Conan told him, before sparing a glance over towards Ai. "Just in case, Haibara, hide in the car."

"You don't have to tell me that much." Ai noted, letting out a sharp sigh. "More importantly, take this with you." Unstrapping the watch from her wrist, she passed it over towards him. "If yours goes out while you're gallivanting around the woods in the dark, you'll be in trouble, won't you?"

Clearly not expecting the gesture, Conan could only blink, taking a moment before he reached out to take the watch that he was offered. "Thanks, Haibara. Hopefully I'll be back before long with Hattori. If anything comes up, I'll contact you through the badge. Of course, you can contact me if anything comes up on your end too."

"Are you sure you don't want me to come with you, Shinichi? Given Hattori-kun's condition, I'm not sure how well he can move." Agasa pointed out.

"I'll work something out." Conan reassured him, even though he didn't sound very convinced himself. "For now, contact the police. With any luck, they already have someone heading out this way because of that phone call. And contact Jodie-san as well."

Bringing in the police was a gamble, but also one that he couldn't afford _not_ to take. He needed all of the help he could get, if he was going to pull this off.

"Then, I'm off, Professor." Closing the door, Conan gave the old man one last, long look, before drawing in a deep breath, turning on his heel. Switching on the light of his wristwatch, he headed towards the side road that they had taken- and they really had. On the unpaved road it was easy to see not one, but two pairs of freshly made tire marks- looks like his earlier instinct had been right on the mark.

That Hattori... leave it to him to be able to escape even in his condition. Still, the professor was likely right- if that sound really been the sound of him passing out, he might not even be awake right now. If push came to shove, he could work something until the police arrived- he still had an unused tranquilizer dart, and for the one that he couldn't knock out, he could manage to make sleep with a soccer ball to the head.

That was, of course, provided that Amuro and Vermouth were really the only ones there. If they weren't... if there was another member of the Organization with them, it might be trouble.

Granted, it wouldn't be _Vermouth_ that he needed to knock out. But as to whether or not she would really help him... that was the real gamble here.


	18. Tradeoff

**AN** : Hello, the next chapter is finished! After so long! So many rewrites! But it's done! I don't even know what it was about this one that caused so many problems- I think it's just simply because there were so many ways from which I could approach this chapter, that it was hard to settle on what, exactly, I wanted. But it's finished now, so have it!

As always, thanks for reading, and it would be lovely if you could leave a review! Until next time!

* * *

 **Collapse**

 **Chapter Eighteen**

 **Tradeoff**

* * *

Kawaguchi Souma.

He'd seen his name and his photograph before, but not even the barely comprehensible fragments of memory could fully prepare him for coming face to face with the man who had brought him into this world. It was an absurd to think, he realized, but for some reason, the only found himself thinking in that instant was that he hadn't expected him to look _that much_ like him.

It would seem that age wasn't enough of a dividing force after all.

Drawing in as much of a breath as he could manage, Heiji watched as the man was lead into the room. It was more than just their shared face that made his skin crawl, and in the instant that his attention turned towards him, he had to bite back the urge to flinch.

Forget proving himself to be more than just a simple lab rat- he didn't think he could convince this guy that he was even _human_.

"As you can see," he faintly made out that woman, Chris Vineyard- no, _Vermouth_ , speaking, "...what we promise, we deliver."

The man, who had been silent up until now, spoke, and in doing so, made a chill run down his spine. "So it would seem."

Even their voices were far too alike.

Honestly, it was like looking into his face from the future- provided that he would even get a chance to _live_ that long. That was a somber thought, and one that he didn't feel was like him, but underneath that man's gaze, it was hard not to think that way.

But like hell it would be enough to make him give up. Biting his lip, Heiji forced himself to draw in a long breath, trying to steady his own thoughts. He'd already confronted the fact that he was a clone, and one made by and from someone that frankly, he didn't want to share _anything_ with at all, much less his entire genetic sequence. It was only just that actually coming face to face with the man had brought everything home to him in a way that it hadn't yet.

But he could handle this. Really. It wasn't his style to go down without a fight, and as much of one as he could give, he would.

Even if it didn't amount to much.

"Of course, you're welcome to look him over yourself." He could feel goose bumps raise on the back of his neck at the mere implications of the actress' words. An examination? By this bastard? And in front of Kudo's enemies, at that? Count him out! "To ensure that we are not deceiving you."

"I fully intend to." Kawaguchi spoke again- hearing his voice didn't get any easier the second time around, Heiji found himself thinking. "Though if this were some kind of trick, I would have to say that you would likely have no need for my research in the first place. It looks entirely as I expected it to."

He heard the implications of his words loud and clear- that he could recognize his younger self in him. It was enough to make him want to vomit, not that he had that much in his stomach to begin with. The fact that he could acknowledge that much, and yet still look at him in that way...

...at the very least, he was confident that when it came to the battle of humanity, he'd already won. That he hadn't turned out like this... he had to wonder if that was part of the reason his old man had always worked so hard to ensure that he didn't get too full of himself.

He'd have to thank him later- but only after he got angry at him for keeping so much from him.

The snap of rubber gloves made him flinch, even as they snapped him back out of his thoughts. There was fear there, written into his reaction- a long buried reaction, a _trauma_ , one might say. Watching as the man approached him, making sure his gloves were in place, he fought the urge to bury himself more in the corner, wishing that he wasn't handcuffed right now.

He was surprised that Amuro had even bothered, given how weak he was. But he guessed that after his little disappearing act, he wasn't about to give him any further chances. He could probably slip out of them if he tried, though the wrist that had been cuffed to the bed was still raw from the last time, stinging every time it rubbed up against his skin.

Still, that, and the chills he had gotten had woken him up. The most he could probably do was stall for time, in hopes that someone would come to save him, and even though that thought made him feel far too much like a damsel for his tastes, he wasn't about to pass up a chance to help save himself just because of something like that.

Besides, it would give him an excuse to mouth off at this bastard- and even if he couldn't convince him that he was worth something more than just being a research sample, he still had a load of things he wanted to say. He'd say them until he was sick of them- or until his voice ran out, whichever came first.

Drawing in a long, haggard breath, Heiji jerked his head upwards, forcing himself to make eye contact with the one he frankly, wanted to avoid it with. It gave the man pause, if only for a second- as if he hadn't expected that kind of intensity in his eyes.

Good. That was exactly what he wanted, that reaction. Maybe there was no meaning to anything, but then again, he'd always had a reputation for being stubborn.

"I don't know if ya heard, but I'm not an _it_." Heiji spoke up- and for a moment, he almost feared that his voice wasn't loud enough to hear. "I have a name, no thanks ta ya. It's Hattori Heiji. Ya'd best use it, asshole."

Pause, again- and the arch of a single brow. So he _had_ heard him.

"I see." It was slight, but his tone had somewhat shifted from that irritating monotone he spoke with- how could a voice that sounded so much like his own speak without any passion? "So you learned how to speak."

"I learned a hell lot more than just that, ya rotten bastard." Heiji spat, narrowing his eyes, dragging up as much energy as he could- and fighting the still present urge to shrink back further in his corner, combating whatever long buried trauma was currently trying to surface. He couldn't exactly blame his child self for being terrified of this guy- in a strange way, it was almost comforting to think that he had been.

It made him feel more _real_.

"Mm." Taking a step forward, now all but hovering over him, Kawaguchi's expression barely shifted. When he spoke again, it was with the faintest hint of disdain in his voice. "As I thought, Makino-san's methods left far too much to be desired. Still, given that you've managed to last for this long, I suppose there's some merit to her work after all."

 _Makino-san_? He recognized that name, if only a little. Makino Suzume... wasn't she the female researcher, the only body found at the scene of the fire that had been able to be identified right away? Something about being found in a separate room... and with that piece of information, as well as the disdain in Kawaguchi's voice, something clicked into place.

And strangely enough, he almost felt a weight being lifted off his shoulders.

What. So he hadn't just been a simple lab rat after all.

"I plan ta last a lot longer than this, _old man_." Heiji told him- oh, that earned a twitch, that last part. Well, that figured- from what he read, his motivation for creating clones in the first place was to escape the effects of aging and the eventual death it would lead to. He'd stick to calling him that, then.

"Doubtful." Kawaguchi observed. "By my calculations, your body shouldn't have lasted for longer than ten years on it's own. That it's managed five beyond that is something that I'm quite interested in, actually."

...well, that he didn't like the sound of. If he hated the idea of kicking the bucket at seventeen, then the idea of doing so at _twelve_...

Or at _ten_ , he guessed. He'd come to accept the _clone_ part, but he was frankly still trying to wrap his head around the part where he was actually two years _younger_ than he'd previously thought. If Kazuha were to learn he was actually only around fifteen around this whole time, she would for sure never let him live it down.

...ah, crap. Thinking about Kazuha had been a mistake.

"I'm known fer bein' stubborn." Forcing his thoughts away from her, Heiji tilted his head back, making sure to look him square in the eye. "I don't have any intention ta just curl up an' die as yer damn lab rat."

"Mm." Merely arching a brow again, Kawaguchi turned on his heel, this time, his gaze falling on Amuro. "I don't suppose you have anything with which you can use to put it to sleep? I'm afraid I wasn't able to carry any such things with me on the flight over."

"As a matter of fact, I do." Amuro simply replied, that plastic smile of his spreading out across his face. "I would be more than happy to lend it to you, Kawaguchi-san."

"What, ya don't wanna chat with me?" Heiji asked, narrowing his eyes. "An' ta think this is our grand reunion, _dad_!"

Just calling him that made him both want to vomit and to apologize to his actual father- who come to think of it, he hadn't called _dad_ in ages. Not to his face, at any rate.

"Thought ya would have been a bit more happy ta see yer child all grown up!" Heiji continued, even as he watched Amuro produce what was surely chloroform. He couldn't say that he hadn't entirely expected this result, but since it was coming his way, he was going to mouth off as much as possible in the remaining minute or so of consciousness he likely had.

It put him in a bad situation, to be sure- but he'd just have to hope that his faith in Kudo had been well placed. Not that he had even so much as a single doubt.

"Though, I guess it's less like a son, an' more like seein' yer own dang face." Heiji noted, forcing a grin onto his face. "Though if ya ask me, between the two of us, I'd definitely have ta say that I'm the better lookin'. Not ta mention what's up with that _creepy_ standard Japanese? If ya worked in the Kansai area, ya should damn well talk like it, old man!"

"...you really don't know when to shut up, do you."

It was the only remark that Heiji got out of him before the chloroform drenched handkerchief was applied to his face. Even as he watched the man's visage dance in his eyes, feeling his consciousness leave him, he couldn't help but feel strangely victorious about it.

Ah, but he hadn't said everything he wanted to say just yet, and so, just before he completely gave into the blackness that was threatening to claim him-

"Go fuck yerself, geezer."

* * *

It looked like his instincts had been right on the mark after all.

Though it was faint, he could make out a hint of light from up ahead. Though he couldn't tell what the building in question had once been, he could tell that it was being used for something now- and that there were people in there. As indicated by the tire tracks, there were two cars out in front, including the one that they had followed. The other, he supposed, must have belonged to Amuro.

It looks like his hunch about them changing locations was spot on the money too. Switching off his wristwatch flashlight for the moment, Conan made a careful survey of the area, using the light of the windows to guide his way. From what he could tell, it didn't seem as if there was anyone watching the place, so...

He could move a little closer up.

Pausing for a moment in front of the cars, he carefully placed a transmitter on the undercarriage of each. If things didn't work out here, he didn't want to lose track of them. Based on what Jodie had said, it was likely that the other part of their deal was a new research facility- one that he doubted was in Osaka.

Once the exchange was settled, he imagined that Kawaguchi would like to go straight there. Transport was probably in order- and since the major roads leading out of the prefecture all had police roadblocks along them, it was unlikely they would be leaving the prefecture by car. Train, of course, was entirely out of the question- which left only one option.

Air.

If they got him on a plane, he might really never see him again. Above all else, he couldn't allow that to happen.

Turning his attention to the building looming before him, he couldn't help but grimly note how much it looked like a prison. The windows were far too high up for him to see anything out of, and it looked as if the walls were fairly sturdy too. Creeping towards the front door, he pressed his ear up against it, narrowing his eyes as he could barely make out any sound.

Pulling away, Conan frowned, glancing back up towards the nearest window. If he used his shoes, he could probably grab the ledge and pull himself up, but there was no way he was going to get in past those bars. He might be small, but he wasn't _that_ small.

He'd rather avoid alerting anyone inside of his presence, too. Making his way to the window, he strained his ears, just faintly able to make out the sound of voices coming from inside. Though he couldn't make out what they were saying, he could tell that there were at least three people inside- likely to be Vermouth, Kawaguchi, and Bourbon.

And of course, Heiji. It bothered him that he couldn't make out his voice, but there was a high chance that he might be out cold, or at the very least, didn't have the voice left to speak. If that was the case, then he would have to bank everything he had on the hope that Vermouth was in a generous mood towards him today.

With any luck, she would agree to what he asked of her. He didn't like it, the idea of letting her get away again, to miss a chance to grasp a lead towards _them_ \- but Heiji's safety and well being came first.

As well as the capture of Kawaguchi Souma.

Without him, they could probably devise a way to keep Heiji alive, with time. They had someone on their side that at the age of eighteen, had already become a highly valued researcher, after all. _With_ him, however, things would move much quicker- even if the man himself didn't have interest in keeping the clone that he had created alive, he wouldn't let him have much of a say in the matter.

He had made him, the very least he could do was take responsibility for the existence he had brought into the world. Though given the way his own sister had spoken of him, he doubted that he'd ever done so, not once in his life.

Drawing away from the window, Conan searched for a good hiding place. In order to pull things off, he would need to knock out both Amuro and Kawaguchi. The tranquilizer dart would be fine for the latter, but as for the _former_...

...he couldn't help but want him to feel just a bit of pain- so a soccer ball to the face it was. He didn't care if he thought that doing this would advance him further in the Organization, and allow him to gain more information, the price of it wasn't worth it.

What did he think the cost of a human life was? Or was it just because he assumed that Heiji wouldn't live for very long anyways? Whatever the case, his reasons didn't matter.

Finding the perfect spot, Conan settled down to wait. From here, nobody would be able to see him until he got a good blow in- and after that, he could only hope it would be too late to react. Take out Amuro first, and then Kawaguchi. And after that...

...try to convince Vermouth to help him, he supposed.

Haibara, he thought dimly, would very much not like this plan. But at the moment- he didn't quite have anything _better_.

* * *

"Yes, yes. Then, I'm counting on you."

Hanging up the phone with a long sigh, Agasa slumped in his seat ever so slightly. Checking the time, he noted that it had almost been thirty minutes since Shinichi had left them- and he couldn't help but worry about him. He sounded like he was fairly confident that he could handle things, but...

"You're worried about him, aren't you?" Ai noted, barely even glancing up at him.

"Naturally." Agasa stated plainly, turning to look down at the girl. "What about you?"

"I'm worried that he'll get all of us in danger." Ai noted, keeping her tone sharp. "I still don't approve of getting the police involved. It's too dangerous."

"But-"

"Yes, yes, I know." Ai cut him off, already able to tell what he was about to say. "There's not much of a choice right now. I'm sure that one has thought of something, at any rate, to explain this all."

"Knowing Shinichi." Agasa said. "So? Did you contact Jodie-san?"

"I did." Ai told him. "I just finished sending her a mail. I doubt she'll be able to reach her in time, though. And? How did your call with that Toyama-san go?"

"It went well, I think." Agasa told her, a slight frown on his face. "I was able to tell him our general location, and it seems as if he's on his way with a few other officers. For the moment, I was able to get out of explaining too much about the situation by telling him I was acquainted with Shinichi."

"He did show his face in front of them, after all." Ai dimly noted. That hadn't been something that she had been thrilled about either, but she'd rather not find out if he'd be desperate enough to ransack her room in search of an antidote. She'd rather remain in control of their distribution.

"That he did." Agasa noted, turning to glance out the window again, not being able to make out much on the darkened road. "But do you really think he'll be alright?"

"Who knows." Shrugging her shoulders, Ai's kept her tone dispassionate. "We have no choice but to rely on him now."

"That's true." Agasa noted. "But I still don't like it."

Neither did she, Ai mentally noted- though that was a thought she'd rather keep to herself. She certainly hoped that his plan wasn't what she was thinking, at the very least- but knowing him, it was probably was.

She didn't understand the strange faith he put on Vermouth to keep her word, nor did she fully understand why it was that _that woman_ was so hesitant to reveal Edogawa Conan's existence to the rest of the Organization. She just had to hope that it would work out for them this time- because if it didn't, it wouldn't just be Heiji who was in danger.

Honestly. She was starting to suspect that being reckless was just a natural trait of high school detectives.

* * *

"I trust that you are satisfied."

"Yes, very much so." Carefully pulling off his gloves and tucking them back into his pocket, Kawaguchi turned on his heel to face the blonde woman. "It would seem that your story was indeed genuine."

"But of course." Amuro told him simply. "I might have omitted a few details here and there, but nothing that was printed in that article wasn't the truth."

"Yes, I can see that much." Kawaguchi noted. "It would seem that your Organization would rather avoid a formal public announcement that a human clone was made."

She didn't miss the way he had avoided using the word _successful_ \- though she supposed from his perspective, it wasn't true. Seeing as how the boy's body was currently breaking down, on that point, she couldn't exactly argue with him.

He'd resisted as much as he could, but in the end, Amuro had successfully been able to put him to sleep. She would have thought that his sleep would have been fitful, but he appeared to be sleeping rather peacefully. Perhaps he simply had that much confidence in his friend.

Well placed confidence, she knew. Though she had ensured that her passenger did not, she hadn't failed to take notice of the car that had been following behind them ever since they had left the meeting spot. There was a small chance that they might have thrown him off when they'd turned on the road leading here, but knowing Kudo Shinichi as she did, she rather doubted it.

Yes... if she knew her _silver bullet_ as she did, he was without a doubt already here. As for his plan, well...

...she could make a few guesses as to that as well.

"We would rather keep it to ourselves, yes." Vermouth said simply, taking a step forward. "As mentioned before, _that person_ desires that your research is used for the sake of the Organization and only for the Organization."

"Yes, you made that quite clear the last time." Kawaguchi merely remarked, arching a brow. "Fear not. As long as the research facility lives up to it's promise, I see no reason to not comply with your request."

 _Request_ , was it. As she thought, this man had a lot of nerve.

"Of course, you can continue your research for personal use." Vermouth stated plainly. "And if you require test subjects-"

"No, no test subjects are needed." Kawaguchi said simply. "Now then, if we can proceed without further delay, I would very much like that."

Not needed? That did give Vermouth a moment of pause, though she didn't let it show on her face. Surely he couldn't have already...?

As she thought, letting this man come into contact with the _that person_ was a dangerous move indeed. While his research was far less catastrophic in consequence than that of the departed Miyano couple, she couldn't say that she liked it. Human cloning was one thing, but that was simply a means to an end.

As for what that end was...

Turning her attention back towards the sleeping form of Hattori Heiji, she merely narrowed her eyes. It would seem that he wasn't the only one relying on that boy in order to achieve their goals.

"I understand. Bourbon," turning her attention back towards him, she gave him a rather frozen smile. "...I'll leave transporting Hattori-kun to the car to you."

* * *

Though he still couldn't quite make out was being said, he knew at least, one thing.

They were coming out.

His breath catching in his throat, Conan felt his heart pounding heavily in his ears. During tense situations, he could only be grateful that his hands weren't prone to sweating, though he could feel a bead of it trickling down the back of his neck.

It was do or die. Almost _literally_ , in Heiji's case.

The door to the building opened, swinging out on just the side he had predicted that it would. He'd let his eyes adjust to the darkness while waiting, but even if he hadn't, it still would have been rather easy to make out the glistening blonde color of the woman who stepped out first.

Vermouth.

For a brief moment, he almost felt her eyes drift towards his hiding place, causing his heart to beat all the louder- before she turned away. As he thought, she'd noticed the fact that they'd been followed up here- since it seemed like she hadn't said anything, maybe this would all work out after all.

Now he just had to wait for...

It was Bourbon who left first, and Conan could have sworn underneath his breath. He was carrying a presumably unconscious Heiji over his shoulder, as if he were a sack of rice. That made things a bit more difficult. Still, he'd somewhat expected this- as long as he waited until he could get a clear shot, it would be fine.

But once he moved, he had to do it quickly. Aiming the tranquilizer dart in the dark wouldn't be easy, but he couldn't risk giving away his location by turning on a light.

And then, he left. Kawaguchi Souma, last of all. He hadn't gotten that good of a look at him when he had been spying on him from the restaurant, and even now, in the darkness, he still couldn't quite make out his features all that well. He didn't need to- it was as if he was already somewhat familiar with them, the trace of age only deepening things, rather than making them wholly unfamiliar.

The eyes were another matter, but it wasn't something he was about to let himself dwell upon. Willing himself to absolute stillness, he watched, and waited, for just the right moment to open up.

Once it did, he didn't even hesitate for a second.

Vermouth, he thought, was barely shocked at all.

"You can come out, _cool guy_." The leaves crunched underfoot as she took a step forward, and he couldn't help but think how out of place her high heels were in the forest. "I won't bite."

"Yeah, I know." Slowly taking a step out from the cover of darkness, Conan cast a gaze towards the pair of men, lying unconscious on the ground. Containing how satisfied he was at seeing Amuro sprawled unconscious was harder than he thought, and he thought for sure some of the smug feeling might have leaked through.

"You realized that we were following you awhile ago, didn't you?" Conan asked, narrowing his eyes.

"No, before that." Vermouth told him frankly, a placid smile, one that he couldn't read, on her face. "You were a bit careless this time."

"I didn't exactly have that much time to make a plan." Conan admitted freely. "You moved quicker than I expected."

"Ah, you can blame that on Bourbon." Vermouth stated, stooping down next to him. He was completely out cold- no wonder, since his head had hit the car right after being slammed in the face by a flying soccer ball. He could be surprisingly violent sometimes, her silver bullet. "He was in a rather large hurry to make this deal succeed. I'm sure he thought it would put him in _that person's_ good graces."

"And you?" Conan asked. "Just so you know, the police are on their way here right now. I don't think they'll let you off easily, even if you are famous in America."

"I imagine they wouldn't, seeing whose son it is we abducted." Vermouth said simply. "But I have no interest in being captured."

"So? What will you do then?" Conan asked, arching his brows. "I'm out of weapons, but I'm sure you must be carrying at least one gun with you, judging from the bulge around your ankles."

"That's right." Vermouth stated plainly. "I could hardly go and pick up someone who burned people to death unarmed, now could I?"

"Well, that's fair enough." Conan admitted. "Why does the Organization want him?"

"I'm afraid I can't answer that." Vermouth said, shaking her head. "Are you perhaps stalling for time, little detective?"

"I don't like the idea of letting you go." Conan stated flatly.

"Letting me go, you say..." Vermouth smiled. "You might say that, but I'm sure you planted one of your transmitters somewhere on the car. Both of them, I'm sure."

"You might say it's a gamble." Conan noted, taking a step forward, letting out a faint breath of relief as that brought him close enough to Heiji to tell that he was still breathing, albeit with a bit of difficulty. "To see if the police catch up to us before you go out of range, or if you get away first."

"I could simply take it off." Vermouth noted. "Since it doesn't seem as if you'll be able to chase after me without abandoning your friend here."

"You won't." Conan said- and though he sounded confident, in truth, he doubted his own words. Vermouth's goals, as always, remained amorphous.

"Quite the amount of confidence you have." Closing her eyes, Vermouth let out a short sigh, her lips curling into a grin. "Alright, detective," taking a step forward, she held up her hands. "...you win."

"You're giving in awfully easily, Vermouth." Conan noted, a hint of suspicion on his voice.

"I simply don't think it's wise to allow _this man_ ," her gaze flickering over towards the slumbering Kawaguchi as she spoke, "...to be allowed to continue his research. It should have never begun in the first place."

"...although I suppose in your case, it would be troublesome if it hadn't."

"I can't deny that." Conan confessed. "So? You'll turn Hattori and Kawaguchi-san over to me?"

"Of course." Vermouth said simply, already moving to scoop up her slumbering partner, tossing him without much care in the passenger seat. "But in exchange, I'm taking this one with me."

"That's fine." Conan said. "But what are you planning on telling that person?"

"Kawaguchi-san has already ran from us once." Vermouth noted. "It won't be hard for him to believe that he attempted to trick us, and run off with his _research sample_."

Ah, he didn't care for his friend being referred to that way, she could tell instantly. She couldn't say that she hadn't expected that much.

"I see. So you're pinning the blame for everything on him." Conan noted.

"And? What do you plan on telling the police?" Vermouth asked, scooping out the slumbering detective with a bit more care, unable to help but note that he was lighter than he looked. "About us?"

"I have no solid proof, just my word, and Hattori's." Conan noted. "Of course, I don't doubt his father would be willing to believe him, but I doubt that you'll give up on him that easily. Even without Kawaguchi, he's still important to you, isn't he? As a," his nose turned up at even having to use the word, "... _research sample_."

Leaning Heiji against the other car, Vermouth took a step back. "That's right. Even if you do find a way to save his life, he'll never be able to appear in public again."

"At least not until I bring your Organization down." Conan told her.

At that, Vermouth merely gave him an unreadable smile as a reply. Stepping into her car, she closed the door behind her, pausing for a moment to roll down the window. "There's one more thing, though, that might interest you."

"Oh?" Conan asked, arching his brows. "What's that?"

"There might actually be a way to solve both your problems." Vermouth stated plainly. "Provided you can get _him_ to agree, that is."

Though he didn't get to question her further, as she rolled up her window before he had a chance, he could tell one thing at least. That the _him_ in question wasn't referring to Kawaguchi Souma- but rather, to _Heiji_.

A method that could solve both their problems, but one that Heiji might not like... she couldn't possibly mean...

...was that _really_ possible?


End file.
